Deveronvale manager Steve Dolan was delighted to be able to celebrate a first league win since December 17.
Trailing 2-0 after less than 10 minutes, Vale rallied superbly and Dolan said: “We deserved it and could have won it more comfortably despite losing those two early goals. We were doing all right early on then all of a sudden, bang, bang and we were down.
“I don’t think we made many mistakes and then we got a great goal back after Lewis Dunbar did well to set it up and after that we kicked on.”
Conditions were difficult and Dolan added: “The pitch helped make the game a decent spectacle between two good attacking teams.
“Referee Liam Duncan allowed play to flow and that also helped on a day when, to a man, I felt we were better than Keith.
“Our new signing from Rothes, James McLaren, showed enough in the 20 minutes he was on the pitch that he is going to be an asset.
“He’s exactly the kind of keen young player we want to bring to the club, he did well as he hadn’t met the rest of the players until he turned up today.”
A disappointed and frustrated Maroons manager Allan Hale said: “When we got two early goals it was just what we had asked for.
“The plan was to press Deveronvale early, but I have been in games before where teams go two goals up and relax.
“That’s exactly what happened as my players thought it was job done at 2-0 with 10 minutes played.
“We started to sit off Deveronvale and gave them a route back into the game by not pressing high enough.
“We sat deeper and that invited pressure on to our back four, as a result we ended up losing the game.”
Hale was left to ponder what may have been and added: “In a game like that when we don’t take our chances it all adds to the nervousness of trying not to lose the game.
“We were undone by what, for me, was a basic cross.
“We didn’t defend it and that has cost us the game.
“That said, I thought our goalkeeper David Dey was excellent. He has a lot of potential and he’s only 19 years of age.
“He lacks a bit of self-belief at times but he can take a lot from his performance.”