Following their recent exploits in the Scottish Cup it was back to league business for the Vale players on Saturday when they picked up another valuable three points in their quest for the coveted prize, the Scot Ads Highland League Championship.
Visitors Brora Rangers, who are currently languishing near the foot of the table, put up a brave fight and made the Banffer's work hard for the points with a gutsy performance but in the end could do little to prevent the league leaders from winning the contest with a goal in each half.

Ritchie Taylor, making his first start for home side, got the Vale off and running with a neat finish after26 minutes with the second coming from none other than top scorer Ian Murray, who made it 35 goals so far this season with an easy finish mid way through the second period.
Boss Gregg Carrol made a couple of personnel changes to his starting line-up from the one, which began at Greenock on Monday evening. Darren McAllister and Mark Chisholm dropped to bench to make way for Robbie Brown and Ritchie Taylor, following their good showing as substitutes during the Morton match. Ian Murray moved to the right-hand side of midfield to make way for Taylor, who partnered Mike McKenzie upfront.
Vale showed no signs of tiredness as they took the game to their visitors early on and McKenzie came close with a near-post header, which drifted wide following a pinpoint Murray cross. McKenzie then turned goal maker as he picked out Taylor inside the penalty area but Cowie got back to block the latter's effort. At the other end Ferries was causing the home defence a few problems with his pace and trickery and Dlugonski had to hack clear inside his own six-yard box as the visitors showed they weren't just there to make up the numbers. Murray's free kick bounced awkwardly in front of Munro but the keeper did enough before Hill completed the clearance. Morton's late run into the box almost paid off for the midfielder when he met Keith's deep cross but he headed weakly at Thompson when he should really have done better.
McKenzie's brilliant dribble inside the box almost created the opener for the home side but Munro and MacKenzie combined to clear the danger as Taylor looked to pounce. The Vale almost took the lead in the 20th minute mark. A Brora corner was quickly cleared up field and Levi Stephen's late run was picked out by McKenzie's weighted pass to the far post but much to the relief of the visitor's the ball cannoned back off the upright and fell to safety.
The inevitable happened five minutes later when the home side deservedly went into the lead. Murray fed Taylor with a slide-rule pass behind the Rangers defence and Ritchie TAYLOR did the rest when he dragged the ball around Munro before sending it in to the empty net. The visitors were aggrieved at the goal claiming that Taylor was in an offside position but the goal stood with Cowie being yellow carded for his loud protests against the officials' decision. A piece of neat play was ended crudely by Cowie who was pushing his luck with referee Northcroft and from the resultant free kick Montgomery rose well above the home defence only to see his header well saved by Munro.
The visitor's goal had real let-off minutes later when Taylor's excellent chip from Montgomery's lay-off came back off the underside of the crossbar and into the relieved Munro's hands. Just as half time loomed Taylor found himself through on goal again but this time Hill made a timely interception to keep his side in the game.

The second half opened with McKenzie shooting from distance without troubling Munro with the ball sailing over the top. Brown did likewise minutes later as Vale looked to make sure of the points with a quick second. Kinghorn then picked out Montgomery inside the area but the veteran midfielder was unable to get any power behind his shot to worry Munro.
Vale continued to dominate the proceedings but were finding it increasingly difficult to break down the five-man Rangers defence and get the all-important second goal. Montgomery's cut-back was met by Taylor but the striker failed to direct the ball on target and then a Murray free kick caused panic in the Rangers penalty box before eventually being cleared to safety by Hill. The home side replaced Ritchie Taylor with Darren McAllister and this allowed Murray to go back to his usual position up top with Mike McKenzie. McAllister was soon in the action but he couldn't quite manage to keep Dolan's deep cross in play as he attempted to cut it back for the waiting Murray or McKenzie.
Any anxiety in the Vale camp was put to bed soon after when Ian MURRAY capitalised on some poor defending to put his side two-up with a simple tap-in from close range although it seemed to take forever for the hit-man to finally bury the ball into the net past the helpless Munro. McAllister tried his luck with an acrobatic effort which found Munro in a good position to save before Levi Stephen was inches away from opening his Princess Royal account with a well-struck drive which whizzed past the right-hand post.
Mike McKenzie, who had just been announced as the sponsor's 'man of the match' should have made it three when straight through on goal with only Munro to beat but the striker tarnished his otherwise good performance when he completely miscued in front of goal. McAllister was next to be through on Munro's goal but under pressure from MacKenzie the substitute also fired wide without working the keeper. With seconds remaining and on a rare Brora flurry upfield Brown had to thump clear after Thompson failed to get any distance on his attempted punch but it was about all the visitors could conjure up as the home side ran out easy winners in the end.
Vale:
Thompson, Dolan, Kinghorn, #Brown, Anderson, Montgomery (Kidd 76), L. Stephen (Chisholm 76), McKenzie, Murray, Taylor (McAllister 64)
Subs not used: B. Stephen, Speirs

Brora Rangers:
Munro, MacKay, Gray, Cowie, #Hill, MacKenzie, Ferries, #Lewis, #Buchanan (Chisholm), Keith (Ross), Morton (Morrison)
Subs not used: Hercher
Referee: M. Northcroft

A pleased Gregg Carrol said after the match, " Every game from now on is a potential 'banana skin' and we have to apply the right attitude throughout the run-in if we are to achieve our goal". Carrol continued, "I wasn't too concerned about tiredness creeping into our play as the players have had plenty of time to rest following Monday night's match and that proved to be true as we controlled the match from start to finish".