Vale entered the hallowed turf of Princess Royal to the tune of "We are the champions" in their first home fixture since winning the title two weeks back and a large cheer from the Valley faithful soon followed as the players prepared for another stern test in their quest for the treble.
Visitors Cove Rangers were well up for this one and were desperately looking to the competition for a piece of silverware from their disappointingly fruitless season to date.
The Banffer's were again without the injured Mike McKenzie, who failed a late fitness test, struggling to shake off his niggling ankle injury picked up at Inverurie a few weeks back.
On a more positive note Ian Murray was passed fit to play after being stretchered off at Lossiemouth last Saturday following fears that he may miss the match with the ankle injury picked up seven days ago.
A minute silence was observed for Ron McGregor and Harry Shepherd who sadly passed away recently, before proceedings got underway.

The match kicked off with Vale back in their more familiar Red Shirts and visitors Cove starting the brighter of the two, in perfect conditions for football. Not surprisingly and with so much at stake play was rather fast and furious for the first ten minutes or so of the match as both sides took their time to settle into any kind of pattern or rhythm. John Brown's free kick tested Thompson but the keeper got a strong hand to the ball and knocked it out for a corner. From the resulting flag-kick Yeats fired high and over the top after collecting a loose ball 25-yards from goal.
At the other end Vale's first serious attack saw Chisholm unmarked inside the Cove penalty box but his first touch let him down allowing Coull the chance to race from his line and block the midfielder's effort to safety. Murray had the ball in the Cove net moments later but the stand-side linesman had his flag raised for offside against the pocket-sized striker. Dlugonski's header off Vale's second McAllister corner inside a minute was thumped clear at the far post and as the game flowed to the other end Dolan and McAllister both did well to block goal bound efforts by the visiting strike force.
Chisholm's header was comfortably saved by Coull and then minutes later the keeper did brilliantly to spread himself in front of the same player to deny Vale the opener. The home defence had to scramble clear as John Brown waltzed into the Vale 18-yard box with relative ease before looking to fire his side ahead. Vale grabbed the opener when they were awarded a soft free kick for a foul on Ritchie Taylor out on the right flank. Stephen's set-piece was floated into the 6-yard box and as Coull and CHISHOLM jumped together the ball dropped kindly for the Vale midfielder allowing him the opportunity to poke it home from close range with the visiting players looking to the referee for a infringement on their keeper.
Levi Stephen drove high over before Coull denied Murray with a fabulous save at the feet of the hit-man as he looked sure to net Vale's second of the afternoon. With only five minutes of the half remaining the home side doubled their advantage thanks to some great determination from Vale number nine Ritchie TAYLOR. Stephen fed Chisholm through on Coull and although Chiz' attempted lob had the keeper beaten all-hands-up the ball appeared to be bouncing wide until Taylor made up some great ground to knock the ball into the roof of the net from an acute angle.
On the stroke of the interval Chisholm's header off a McAllister corner looked a goal all the way until Coull intervened with another fine stop to keep his side in the tie.

The second period opened with Taylor firing low across the Cove 6-yards box only for McAllister to be inches too far ahead of play to connect with the enticing ball. At the other end the visitors hadn't given up just yet and Brown fired low into the side netting when well placed to pull a goal back and make a second forty-five of it. It proved a big moment in the match because less than two minutes later Vale had the tie well and truly wrapped up. A corner on the left was only partially cleared to the back post by the Rangers defence and Bryan DLUGONSKI sent a sweet half-volley past the despairing hand of Marc Coull and into the corner of the net to put the home side into the semis of the competition for the third year running.
Dolan came close with a rasping drive, which was inches too high before Chisholm was again thwarted by that man Coull when the keeper again rushed from his line to deny Chis his twenty-first of the season. McAllister's 25-yard snap-shot was held by Coull and as Cove broke Beattie had an opportunity to give the small band of travelling supporters something to shout about but the experienced striker fired disappointingly wide when really he should have at least worked Thompson. Clark then had a good chance to pull a goal back for the visitor's but he failed to get enough on Brown's cross to trouble Thompson, who gathered easily. Dolan hooked clear off his own goal line following another Cove raid, which almost rewarded them with a consolation.
Vale then made a couple of changes to freshen things up with Brown and Taylor making way for Montgomery and Barrie Stephen respectively. Stephen gave the visitors a different dimension to deal with when the sub ran at the Rangers defence with pace and direction, which almost lead to Vale's fourth but Coull held the youngster's effort comfortably. Ian Murray, now chasing a landmark of fifty for the season, had a great opportunity to set himself on his way when he received a pass from Barrie Stephen inside the six yard box but the unselfish striker saw McAllister in a better position and elected for the pass.
Unfortunately Vale were finding Coull in great form and again the keeper did well to deny Darren's close range effort as he spread himself well to block for a corner. The sponsor's man-of-the-match award was handed to the hard-working Levi Stephen for his tireless efforts throughout the ninety minutes. Referee MacKay found it somehow necessary to caution five players in a competitive cup-tie played in good spirits and without a single bad tackle throughout the match.

The semi-finals of the competition are due to be held on the 26th of April which will see Vale travel to Inverurie Locos, who saw off Huntly after extra time in their 2nd round tie.
Gregg Carrol was, as you would expect very pleased with his side's efforts and praised his players for their tireless and faultless efforts in reaching the next round of the tournament. He said "This was a very tricky tie for us today. The boys put in a very good shift to see off a very spirited Cove performance. We got the goals at very important times in the match and showed some resolute defending when we had to and we now look forward to yet another semi-final in this one competition which had eluded the Vale so far in their sixty-five year history".

Vale:
Thompson, Dolan, Kinghorn, #Chisholm, #Dlugonski, #Anderson, McAllister, Brown (Montgomery 72), Taylor (B. Stephen 81), Murray, L. Stephen
Subs not used: Pressley, Kidd, Speirs (GK)

Cove:
Coull, Pilichos, Allan, Mullen, Smith (Cheyne 58), #Yeats, #Clark, Livingstone, K. Coull (Greig 60), Beattie, Brown
Subs: Murphy, McGinlay, Charles (GK)
Referee: C. MacKay