After their home defeat to Keith on Saturday the Vale players were left with the daunting task of winning all five remaining league fixtures to be absolutely sure of winning the title, starting with tonight's match with ex-champions, Cove Rangers.
Although the visitors requested that the game be switched to Tuesday evening to avoid Scotland's clash with Nigeria at Pittodrie the game went ahead as scheduled on Wednesday. Following Saturday's defeat Gregg Carrol made two changes to his line-up, Gary Nicol replaced the injured Ian Murray upfront, and Ryan Pressley came back into Vale's midfield after coming through an Under 21 match on Monday unscathed, at the expense of Derek Craigie who dropped to the bench.
Cove were without top scorer Michael Beattie who is on Honeymoon.
Vale got off to a dream start when they opened the scoring after only 20 seconds. GaryNICOL scored his first goal for the Banffers when he latched on to a poor back pass by Murphy and rounding Charles before stabbing the ball home from 6 yards.
Urquhart then released Dolan who drove at the Cove rearguard but Charles intercepted his cutback from the left before it could reach the waiting Watt. Montgomery conceded a free kick in a dangerous position when he fouled Coutts at the edge of the area but the wall did their job blocking Brown's well-hit effort. Pressley was doing a fine job in front of the back four mopping up as Cove pushed for the equaliser. Thompson did well at full stretch to parry Brown's corner kick to safety before Urquhart was inches from latching on to a loose ball, which the visiting defence struggled to clear.
Kinghorn's headed clearance over his own crossbar was a bit too close for comfort for the nervous home fans on another Cove raid before Emslie's pile driver scraped the post with Thompson desperately scrambling across his goal line. The Vale keeper then completely missed Brown's deep cross but Dolan did well to shield the ball over the line as Coull looked to capitalise. Charles brought of a fine save from Nicol when the Vale striker slipped the visitor's defence and fired high to the keeper's left only for the experienced campaigner to get a strong hand to divert the ball for a corner kick.

The second half was only 15 second old when Vale went two up. More swung in a cross with his left and Jamie WATT stooped to head past Charles from 6 yards. Cove immediately broke up field and pulled a goal back through defender McCraw.
Thompson might have done better however as the ball seemed to go through the big keeper's hands as it bounced off the dry surface in front of him. Vale came back at the visitors and Nicol's clever free kick fell the wrong side of Chisholm as he tried to connect in front of goal only to see the ball roll agonisingly past the post. Dolan had to be on his toes to clear when the Vale defence failed to deal with an awkward bouncing ball in their own penalty box as play flowed from end to end.
Vale then broke up field and Murphy was adjudged to have fouled Nicol on the edge of the box allowing the home side with an excellent chance to increase their lead. Up stepped Jamie WATT to fire the set piece high over the wall and crashing into the net to secure the points for the Banffers. Chisholm came close to connecting with an Urquhart cross but Charles did just enough to put the midfielder off before More had a golden chance when sent through on goal by Watt.
The final effort however didn't get the finish the move deserved and the ball sailed high and wide of Charles' goal. Nicol also came close to increasing Vale's lead but Murphy did well to clear after the striker had beaten Charles and looked to score from close range. Chisholm somehow completely missed the ball with his head after a stand-up to the back post from Watt gave the inform "Chis" a great chance to continue his recent scoring streak.
Craigie replaced Nicol with two minutes left on the clock and almost set-up Watt with a fine pass through the visitor's defence but the ball seemed to gather pace as Watt chased it down and Charles was able to save. As the final whistle sound it marked the Vale's first home win in the Highland League over their Aberdeen based counterparts.
Manager Gregg Carrol singled out strikers Gary Nicol and Jamie Watt for their excellent work rate and deadly finishing in front of goal but was also quick to point out that it was a team performance which saw his side having to defend deeply on a very bumpy surface and against a stiff breeze in the first half.