Deveronvale put their much-troubled week firmly behind them to grab a vital three points at Grant Park on Saturday and more importantly for the Banff club get back to winning ways again after suffering four defeats on the trot.
Vale were made to work very hard indeed for the victory by a tireless working Lossie side who on another day may well have been in the lead before the visitors sealed the points with four second half goals.
Ross Bremner was the difference between the sides for the first hour pulling off three vital saves as Lossie tried to capitalise on Vale's uncertainties at the back although to be fair the visitors did have the bulk of the possession throughout the ninety minutes without really threatening Dunn in the home goal, until the goals that is.
A McGuire own goal, whilst trying to clear Urquhart's downward header off the line, opened the floodgates and gave Vale the much-needed confidence booster, which had been missing earlier in the match and once Scott Anderson had headed the second the points were more or less in the bag. Barrie Stephen kept his rich vein of form going with a third sixty seconds later and Bryan Dlugonski, playing in an unfamiliar left-back role, finished off the scoring with the last kick off the ball to round off a good afternoons work for the Banff outfit.
After a week which saw Steve Dolan and Mark Chisholm slapped on the transfer list Vale made a late swoop on Friday evening to re-sign former striker Jamie Watt, who had left the club in the summer of 2001 to jet off to Australia for a year before signing for Scottish League side Montrose at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately Watt failed to make the break through into the Montrose first team and elected to step back down to the Highland League with his former club his only choice when his decision was made.
Watt started on the bench for Vale and with Dolan missing from Vale's back four Gregg Carrol took the opportunity to re-shuffle slightly bringing in Ryan Pressley to play at centre half and moving Bryan Dlugonski over to the left-back berth.
Robbie Brown, who has just signed a three-year extension to his current contract (which was due to expire next summer) replaced Mark Chisholm in the middle of the park as Vale went looking for a morale boosting victory.

The visitors kicked off in near perfect conditions but it was the Coasters who were first to threaten when Brown gave away a freekick in a dangerous position. Darren Shalliker stepped up and dinked an accurate looping effort over the Vale defensive wall but Bremner was equal to it and tipped it over the top for a wasted corner kick. Barrie Stephen won a corner at the other end but Vale also failed to take advantage of the set piece and the Lossie defence easily cleared the danger. The home side might have taken the lead on their next flurry upfield but Forde skied over when set up by Shalliker with Vale's new look defence caught rather square. Darren McAllister saw his header well saved by Dunn but the referee had already blown for an infringement by the Vale number seven. Paul Urquhart had a great chance to put his side one up when he found himself all alone inside the eighteen-yard box but Dunn got down very quickly to defy the midfielder of his first goal of the season, with a fine stop low to his right.
The large travelling support were screaming for a penalty minutes later when Darren McAllister went down in the box under a challenge from Dunn but referee Bicknell waved away Vale's claims which was probably about the right correct decision from the official.
Bicknell then waved another appeal from the visitors when Barrie Stephen also went down in the penalty area under a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge from Lossie experienced defender Peter McGuire. Mike McKenzie hooked over a half chance before McAllister drove wide as Vale kept up the pressure on the home side's goal but found the Coasters well organised with plenty of bodies behind the ball and quite happy to look to catch the Banffers on the break.
Bremner was called into action for the second time in the match after McGuire had eluded his marker following a corner kick but his volley failed to beat the Vale number one who must have seen it late before getting a strong hand to the defender's effort.
Robbie Brown then headed narrowly over following a Levi Stephen freekick into the Lossie danger area. On a quick break away Forde should have done better when presented with a great chance to put the home side one up but again the striker failed to hit the target when he caught site of goal this time firing past the far post with only Bremner to beat.
A great piece of individual skill by Mike McKenzie very nearly released Paul Urquhart but McHardy did just enough to thwart the wee midfielder's run into the box. At the other end another piece of magic this time from Darren Shalliker set up Ellis but again Bremner was the man who counted when he deflected the ball wide with his left boot.
On the stroke of half time Barrie Stephen got into a good scoring position after receiving a pass inside the penalty area from the hard working Paul Urquhart but unfortunately for the Banff side Stephen's goal bound effort cannoned off the back of Urquhart before it could find its way into the net.

Robbie Brown was presented with the first chance of the second period but scooped over from close range following a Darren McAllister corner from the left.
A Scott Anderson tackle on Hendry was a vital one as the midfielder tried to break in behind the Vale back four on one of Lossie's quick sorties upfield.
Stuart Gray then came close for Vale with a left footed effort, which was deflected wide for yet another disappointing corner from the visitors. As the game started to open up and become rather frantic Paul Urquhart picked up another needless caution for backchat to referee Bicknell.
Vale went temporarily down to ten men when Ryan Pressley fell awkwardly as he attempted to clear at his back post but as fate would have it they came oh so close to opening the scoring. A Darren McAllister floated cross to the back stick picked out Mike McKenzie in space but although Mike's looping header beat Dunn it cannoned back off the face of the crossbar and was cleared to safety.
Vale started to really put the Coasters under intense pressure as the hour mark approached and won a succession of corners without really managing to work Dunn in the Lossie goal but an inspired substitution from the visitors' bench paid handsomely for them minutes later. Bremner had pulled off a super save from Forde's diving header with a one-handed stop low to his left before Jamie Watt ran on to a noisy welcome from the valley faithful to replace Darren McAllister, and he took his place up top with Barrie Stephen moving over to the right flank.
This tactical switch worked a treat for the Banffers and they took the lead a few minutes later. Urquhart was firstly denied by Youngson's timely tackle but his clearance to Barrie Stephen was whipped back into the danger area with pace and dip to the back post to the waiting "Yogi" Urquhart who out-jumped his marker to head goalwards and although McGUIRE was quickly onto the line to head clear he could only succeed in helping the ball into his own net.
Vale took a great deal of confidence from their opener and it was no surprise when they doubled it five minutes later. Skipper Scott ANDERSON rising to power a header past Dunn with the aid of a deflection, following a pinpoint freekick from Levi Stephen, for the captains' first of the season. It all went horribly wrong for the battling Morayshire side sixty seconds later when Dunn, under pressure from Watt, sliced a poor clearance straight to Barrie STEPHEN and the Highland league top-scorer simply passed the ball into the unguarded net from 25-yards for his seventeenth of the campaign.
Forde capped a miserable afternoon for him and his side when he turned his maker inside the area only to fire wide from 8-yards with the goal at his mercy. Shalliker was then very unlucky to see his turn and shot come back off the woodwork with Bremner well beaten following a floated freekick into the Vale penalty box.
McHardy cleared off his own goal line to deny Mike McKenzie after his rather tame effort had squirmed under Dunn's body and looked to be giving Vale their fourth of the afternoon. To slightly mar Vale's afternoon Ryan Pressley hobbled off with five minutes to go and was replaced by Ritchie Sharpe.
Three minutes into stoppage time Bryan DLUGONSKI completed the scoring and put the icing on the cake for Vale when he ran onto a McKenzie through ball before simply smashing it past a stunned Dunn and into the back of the net for his first counter of the season

A pleasing afternoon for Vale and their boss after a week of complete turmoil at Princess Royal Park was summed up by Gregg Carrol when he said "I was very critical of my players last week but have nothing but praise for them today. We fought for every ball and defended much better as a unit than of late. It's never an easy place to come to and Lossie made us work very hard for the points but we dug deep and I think deserved our victory. It took us a long time to get the opener and if it hadn't been for some great goalkeeping from Ross (Bremner) we may well have been trailing but we kept going and the tactical change which saw Jamie (Watt) make his return to the side changed the game in our favour".
Carrol wasn't going to be drawn on the events of the past few days but did say "the door is still firmly open and the contracts which were offered to Dolan and Chisholm are still on the table although they will not be training with the rest of the squad until the individual situations are resolved".
On Vale's new signing Carrol added "we knew Jamie wasn't having the best of times down at Montrose and had been keeping tabs on him since the start of the season so we are really pleased to welcome him back as it bolsters the squad again. We also delighted to announce that Robbie Brown has extended his contract for another three years which can only be good news for the club and it's future".

Lossie:
Dunn, Noble, #Youngson, McGuire, McHardy (McMullen 81), S. Sim (Dixon 81), McMullen, Ellis, Forde (Watson 85), Shalliker, Hendry

Vale:
Bremner, Pressley (Sharpe 85), #Gray, Brown, Dlugonski, #Anderson, McAllister (Watt 61), L. Stephen, McKenzie, B. Stephen, #Urquhart (Kidd 75)
Subs not used: - Campbell, Phimister (GK)

Referee: : J. Bicknell