Saturday the 13th of September saw Deveronvale's impressive thirteen month unbeaten league record finally came to an abrupt ending when they lost to visitors Inverness Clachnacuddin in a tight match, which could so easily have gone either way or ended all square.
The Highland League billed 'match of the day' proved to be just that with both sides playing some good attacking football in blustery conditions and giving the large crowd plenty of excitement throughout the ninety minutes, although try telling that to the despondent "Valley Crew" who were understandably disappointed to end up in the losing side after such a roller coaster year or so.
In the end a poor referee decision and a moments lack of concentration proved to be Vale's downfall, all within a four-minute spell, midway through the second half and left Vale boss Gregg Caroll with some thinking to do ahead of next Saturday's Scottish Cup Qualifying tussle with neighbours Buckie Thistle.
The result sees Clach head the P & J Highland league, a point clear of other early front-runners Huntly although Vale are not far behind, despite having played a game less.
"It just wasn't our day", claimed a dejected Gregg Caroll who saw his side continuously thwarted by some great goalkeeping in the hands of Martin Rae, between the "Lillywhites" sticks, who somehow kept out first half goal-bound efforts from Mark Chisholm and Ian Murray and some solid defending from the visiting back three especially in the first half, which Vale dominated.
There was a minutes silence prior to kick off for John McAllister, Grandfather of Vale number seven Darren and long-life Vale fan, who sadly passed away last Saturday.

The visitors won the toss and elected to make Vale play into the St. Andrews' end for the first forty-five, which also meant the home side having the wind advantage as they kicked off.
Dlugonski was forced to clear ahead of his keeper Ross Bremner as the visitors started on the ascendancy looking for an early counter. Ross then won a free kick for a foul by Anderson but just failed to get enough on the resultant set piece to trouble Bremner, off Mitchell's centre.
Vale's response was an arrowed strike from Mike McKenzie, which Rae palmed away for a fruitless corner. Murray then had a twenty-five yarder expertly tipped over by a full-stretched Rae, but again Vale wasted the flag-kick. Matheson was forced to head clear at the near post following a McAllister corner, which was headed goal wards by Bryan Dlugonski. Levi Stephen then fired a foot or so over with his weaker right before McKenzie almost put the Banffer's in front.
A long ball looked to be going out of play but "Mikey" nipped in to take it off the toe of MacDonald but just as the big striker steadied himself to shoot the Clach defender redeemed himself by deflecting the ball wide for yet another wasted corner.
Polworth headed narrowly wide following a Brennan freekick before Murray chipped Rae only to be denied his ninth of the season by some good defending by MacDonald who read the danger and whipped the ball clear before it could bounce over the line. Bremner denied Lewis with a good block before Rae pulled off another super save at the other end to deny a certain goal from Mark Chisholm who had burst clear before firing a fierce drive towards the top corner.
Mike McKenzie shot inches wide of Rae's right-hand post as Vale continued their search for the opener but table-toppers Clach just about held out to reach the break with a clean sheet.

A minute of controversy saw the visitors take the lead in a story of two second half penalties, one, which was given, and one, which was not!
Firstly, Steve Dolan looked to be blocked as he ran onto a Mark Chisholm through ball inside the Clach 18-yard box and even received a rare caution for his loud protests to the referee.

Seconds later and just to add insult to injury for the home side referee Main pointed to the spot at the other end, awarding Clach a penalty kick for allegedly pushing by Bryan Dlugonski on Clach substitute Bruce McCraw. Although there were no shouts for an offence from any of the visiting players McCraw, who had just replaced Polworth, stepped up to put his side one up with a well-taken spot kick.
Things went from bad to worse for the home side three minutes later as the Vale defence completely lost their concentration, possibly from the previous incident, allowing Mike Sanderson the easiest of chances to stoop home a close range header to seal the points for the visitors.
Gregg Caroll made a couple of changes in an effort to salvage something from the match but time was against the Vale as they pushed forward in numbers looking for a lifeline.
Robbie Brown was very unlucky to see his close range header saved by Rae although I'm not sure if the keeper knew much about it and this just summed up the Banff side's afternoon.
Ross should have made it three for the visitors when he was clean through on Bremner but sliced his effort high and wide with plenty of time to put the icing on the cake for the ecstatic visiting fans.
Bryan Dlugonski was voted 'sponsors man-of-the-match' which was little consolation for the home side who must forget about today and start to focus on next Saturday's game.

Gregg Carrol added to his "just one of those days" comment by adding "I didn't think we played badly and on another day may well have scored five, but it just wasn't meant to be". "To be fair to Clach they are a strong physical side who defended well and made it a very tough match for us but I didn't think it was a penalty and told the referee the same after the match, although we should have defended the second goal better than we did". When asked about next week's cup-tie Carrol said, "Next Saturday will take care of it's self, it's a cup-tie and a local derby so I'm sure all the players will be ready and up for it and won't need any additional motivation from either myself or the background team".

Vale:
Bremner, #Dolan, Pressley, Chisholm, Dlugonski, #Anderson, #McAllister (Gray 53), L. Stephen (Urquhart 80), McKenzie, #Murray, Kidd (Brown 80)
Subs not used: Campbell, Sharp

CLach:
Rae, MacKay, Brennan, S. MacDonald, MacLeod, Lewis (Davidson 46), Mitchell, #Matheson, Polworth (McCraw 68), Ross, Sanderson
Subs not used: J. MacDonald, M. Sanderson, Campbell


Referee:R. Main (2)