After going eighteen matches unbeaten away from home in the Highland League Deveronvale went down for the second Saturday in a row another close ding-dong battle, this time at local rivals Huntly.
In a thrilling encounter, the Banffers were edged out by the odd goal in seven against a fired up home side who finished the game with only ten men and won it with thanks to David Henderson's late header, which put a severe dent in Vale's league challenge. Gregg Carrol's squad was severely weakened with Mark Chisholm, Paul Urquhart, Ross Bremner, Bryan Dlugonski, Ian Murray and Ryan Pressley all missing from his starting line-up but credit to the Strathbogie side who went at the Banffers from the offset and just about edged the ninety minutes on possession and chances created.
Mark Gray put the home side into an nineteenth minute lead but his counter was cancelled out by Barrie Stephen's fifteenth of the season to see the sides in level at the break. A defensive blunder allowed Craig to put the Strathbogie side back into the lead less than a minute after the restart but again Vale bounced back when Darren McAllister equalised from the penalty spot.
Jerry O'Driscoll put Huntly three-two up after another poor piece of defending from the visitors before Robbie Brown thought he had snatched a point for the Banffers with his second in as many weeks. Ex-Vale centre-half Henderson had other ideas and floated a looping header over Jim Phimister and into the net for a dramatic late winner for the ten men seven minutes from time. With Dlugonski calling off shortly before kick-off with an injury Gregg Carrol was forced into a defensive reshuffle with Ritchie Sharp making his long-awaited debut for the Banff side in the heart of the defence alongside skipper Scott Anderson. In the midfield Terry Kidd and Darren McAllister replaced the suspended Mark Chisholm and Paul Urquhart as Vale went looking for the three points, which would have seen them back at the top of the league, as leaders Clachnacuddin were on Scottish Cup duty.
Huntly were at full strength and up for the fight, as you'd expect given that three ex-Vale players were in their side and that they are under the guidance of Banff based manager, Billy Anderson.

The visitors kicked off into a strong low sun but were soon on the back foot as Huntly went looking to unsettle Vale's patched-up back four. Ritchie Sharp showed inexperience when he allowed Stainer to get on the wrong side of him but comeback keeper Jim Phimister was alert to the situation and partially cleared to Anderson who mopped up the danger.
Brown came close for Vale on their first real attack, beating Thompson to a Dolan corner only for the ball to land on the wrong side of the goal. Mike McKenzie was then presented with a great chance when Barry Thompson gave the ball straight to the striker at the junction of the 18-yard box but Alan Stephen came to the keeper's rescue with a headed clearance off Mike's attempted lob into the gaping net.
Vale had a let off when Phimister completely missed a Guild low cross with the ball running straight across the face of their goal before being cleared at the back post by Stevie Dolan. Then Stainer missed with a header from 6-yards as Vale failed to pick up the Huntly striker following a deep free kick into their own penalty box.
Huntly piled on the pressure on the shaky looking Vale defence and their endurance paid off after eighteen minutes.

Phimister pulled off a fine stop to deny Stainer before Dolan deflected another effort to the edge of the area but this time Gray made no mistake when he rocketed the ball into the roof of the net past the helpless Phimister from 22-yards.
Phimister saved at the second attempt following another Gray strike from distance as Huntly continued to dominate but in the face of adversity Vale pulled level. Alan Stephen was caught in possession at the edge of his own 18-yard box when he was robbed by Mike McKenzie who then played in Barrie STEPHEN and although Thompson got a strong hand to the ball he couldn't prevent the striker scoring his fifteenth of the campaign to see the sides all square at one-a-piece.

Reidford's sliding tackle on Barrie Stephen denied the striker a clear run at goal before Thompson saved from McKenzie's grounder from 20-yards. Phimister went down injured after saving from O'Driscoll but was able to continue following some treatment before O'Driscoll headed just wide from an acute angle. Scott volleyed narrowly wide and Kidd did likewise at the other end as half time neared. In time added on at the end of the first forty-five Thompson kept the sides level with a great stop at point-blank range after Barrie Stephen had opened up the Huntly back-line before squaring to his namesake Levi.

Vale got off to the worst possible start to the second period when they conceded needlessly after just fifty seconds.
Phimister through the ball out to Dolan but the veteran defender was dispossessed by Craig who ran through and easily put his side back into the lead.
The Banffers responded with a Barrie Stephen volley, which was deflected wide off Henderson for a corner kick and from the set piece Brown headed narrowly over with Thompson caught in no-man's-land.
Gray was presented with a decent opportunity after good work down the right but the ball took a wicked bobble just as the midfielder looked to pull the trigger in front of goal and he skied his effort over the top.
Barrie Stephen saw his headed effort cleared off the line by Henderson after the striker had out jumped Thompson to a Dolan cross. A well-worked freekick from the home side almost paid off but Stuart Gray read the danger and cleared just before Vale drew level. .

Mike McKenzie picked out Stephen with a through ball into the box but just as the speedy striker looked to steady himself he was hauled back by Reidford. Referee Bicknell pointed to the spot before yellow carding Gray for his loud protests. As this was Gray's second caution of the afternoon the midfielder left the field for an early bath before Darren McALLISTER stepped up to dispatch the resulting penalty into the bottom corner.
Huntly had similar appeals for a spot-kick turned down at the other end after McAllister upended Farmer but referee Bicknell rightly awarded a freekick on the edge of the area, which was wasted by McGowan, who blazed well over the top.
The ten-men of Huntly never gave up and deservedly scored again but it was another defensive blunder by the visiting defence.
Captain Scott Anderson was dispossessed by Guild who in turn fed O'Driscoll into the box and the experienced striker made no mistake by placing the ball beyond Phimister and into the net. As the game started to flow from end to end O'Driscoll almost scored again for the home side but this time Anderson turned from sinner to saint when he popped up on the goal line to clear the striker's effort after he had rounded Phimister.
At the other end the hard-working Robbie Brown headed wide when well placed to score following a pinpoint McKenzie cross from the right. BROWN wasn't to be denied however and did pull his side level for the third time minutes later.

A Dolan freekick was only partially cleared by the Huntly defence and 'Brooner' for the second Saturday running was in the right place at the right time to plant the ball past Thompson from 10-yards.
Reidford smacked a 35-yard freekick off the face of the Vale crossbar with Phimister well beaten but fortune favours the brave and the ball landed safely out of play for a goal-kick to the Banff side. As play raged to the other end Darren McAllister cut inside his marker before firing over from 22-yards although if the winger had looked up he had an option to play in Barrie Stephen who was unmarked.
David Henderson, the likeable ex-Vale centre-half, won it for the Strathbogie side with seven minutes left on the clock when he met a Reidford freekick and sent a looping header over the despairing hand of Phimister and into the net for an unlikely and rare goal for the evergreen defender.
Although the visitors had a spare man and seven minutes still to play their heads went down and it was the home side who looked more likely to add to their tally rather than Vale staging a late fight back. Phimister had to look alert to deny the rampant Black & Golds when he raced from his line to thwart Guild who had danced around the Vale defence only to be denied by the wee man between the sticks

Vale now go into their remaining fixtures knowing that any further major slip ups from now until the end of the season will surly see their championship hopes dashed.
Boss Gregg Carrol however was upbeat about their chances saying, "we can still afford perhaps a couple of further losses but we need to stop giving away so many bad goals". "Twelve goals lost in three games isn't championship material and we will be working hard in training to sort it out this week" added Carrol.
On Saturday's match Carrol said, "I thought we played pretty well especially as we had so many regulars out and should have at least taken a point from the game but Huntly played well too and pushed us hard especially when they went down to ten men. In the end mistakes at the back cost us a point but I'm not blaming any individuals, it's a team game and we have to start working and defending better as a unit".

Huntly
Thompson, Reidford, #Scott, A. Stephen, #Henderson, ##Gray, Craig, Guild, #O'Driscoll (Craigie 86), Stainer (McGowan 30), Farmer (Green 84)
Subs not used: - N. Sharp, Hendry

Vale:
Phimister, Dolan, #Sharpe, L. Stephen, Gray, #Anderson, #McAllister, Brown, McKenzie, B. Stephen, Kidd
Subs not used: - Campbell, Watt, Rennie, Munro

Referee: John Bicknell