Turriff United took full advantage of Brora Rangers’ game at Wick being postponed to move into top spot in the Highland League after a hard-fought win against Deveronvale.
United had to work hard for the three points, the only goal of the game coming with only 20 minutes left when man of the match Aaron McKenna played in Gary McGowan and he made no mistake with a crisp left-footed finish.
McKenna said: “It really was a tough game as we have had a three-week break due to the weather and the derby made it even harder.
“I was happy to make the winning goal for Gary, the ball came to me, I heard a shout and played him in.
“Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t but, thankfully, this time it paid off.”
Veteran referee Craig Sim deserved huge praise, both for allowing the game to go on and for using bags of commonsense in his handling of a tricky derby in far from ideal conditions.
United were without Latvian central defender Artjoms Kuznecovs with James Chalmers taking his place in a back three alongside Cammy Bowden and Chris Herd, while midfielder Robbie Allan made his first appearance after being unavailable for a long spell.
Deveronvale handed a debut to defender Glen Mutch, while midfielder Liam Archibald returned after injury.
Vale had the first shot at goal in the fifth minute but Colin Charlesworth’s superb 25-yarder flew inches wide of the upright.
Turriff should have taken the lead in the 19th minute when Lewis Davidson’s free kick picked out Bowden, his powerful header looked net-bound until goalkeeper Rhys Fyfe flung himself to get a strong hand to the ball and turn it round the post.
From another Turriff corner on the half hour mark Fyfe again denied Bowden with a point-blank goal-line save when the home centre half looked certain to score.
Vale were singling out talented Turriff forward McGowan as their main threat as any time he got the ball the former Banffers’ favourite was immediately closed down by at least two Deveronvale players.
Turriff goalkeeper Kevin Main did brilliantly just before the break to parry the ball to safety after Craig Simpson’s cross had been deflected goalwards by home centre half Bowden and the first half ended with Turriff having forced 10 corners against Vale’s one but the game somehow remained without a goal. Just after the break Graeme Rodger almost broke the deadlock but United goalkeeper Main saved at the second attempt after the ball came through a forest of legs.
In the 58th minute Deveronvale had an even better chance to open the scoring, but Stuart Leslie shot wide from eight yards and they were to be made to pay for the miss.
Turriff finally broke the deadlock in the 70th minute when McKenna turned and threaded a pass to McGowan who cut in from the right and sent a 10-yard shot low past Fyfe.
With two minutes to go Vale passed up a gilt-edged chance to equalise when goalkeeper Main uncharacteristically spilled the ball at the feet of Philip Watt, but somehow Bowden managed to scramble back in time to hack the substitute’s 12-yard effort off the line and to safety.
In the first minute of added time Vale were reduced to 10 men when Liam Forbes fouled McKenna and picked up his second yellow card.
Veteran Vale defender, Leigh Henderson, who did not put a foot wrong all afternoon, said: “There really wasn’t all that much between the teams on a day when the conditions played a massive part.
“It was only just playable and sometimes it was difficult to judge how the ball was going to bounce as some bits were harder than others, but I suppose it was the same for both sides, so we can’t really complain.”