For the fifth match in a row Deveronvale had home advantage when Caithness strugglers Wick Academy took the long annual trip to Banff to tackle the League Champions but came away with nothing as the Banffers ran out, in the end, easy 3-1 winners.

Vale moved ahead of next Saturday's opponents Fraserburgh into third spot as a result of their victory, which came courtesy of two goals from Barrie Stephen and a second half counter from Paul Urquhart, his first of the year.

The home side dominated for long spells of the match but couldn't quite find their killing instinct in front of goal, which had been so deadly on their last outing against Forres.

In a rather low key affair and in front of a disappointing low crowd, probably due to a certain match being played at Hampden Park, Vale were made to work hard for the three points with the visitors continuously working hard to close down any space and getting eleven black and white shirts behind the ball at all times and yet the Caithness men did manage to create one or two chances of their own although didn't really look like scoring until substitute Craig Gunn pounced on a piece of indecision in the home defence.

Princess Royal Park was in pristine condition as the home side kicked off and went immediately on the attack. Mike McKenzie swung in a cross, which was flapped at by MacMillan, in the Academy goal, but Barrie Stephen just failed to capitalise on the keeper's mistake.
McKenzie then tested the visiting keeper with a low effort but this time he saved comfortably knowing that any spillage might prove costly for his side, especially so early on in the match. The visitors should have taken a shock lead after only six minutes when McAdie broke clear of the Vale back-line but Bremner came to his side's rescue with a fine stop at the striker's feet.
At the other end MacMillan did well to thwart Barrie Stephen with a brave save at the forward's feet before the Vale striker was denied again this time by a timely tackle by MacLeod as he galloped into the Academy box.

The lively Barrie "Baz" Stephen wasn't to be denied however and opened the scoring soon after thanks to a good piece of intelligent play by Steve Dolan. The left-back held up the ball brilliantly before picking out STEPHEN'S near post run and the in-form striker flicked the ball past MacMillan from 6-yards with the outside of his boot.

Baz almost made it two moments later with a fierce drive from the edge of the area, which sizzled inches over the top of MacMillan's crossbar off the left boot of the buzzing striker. The Wick keeper did well to save at the second attempt following a Levi Stephen volley from 18-yards as Vale pegged back their visitors deep into their own half whilst looking for a second.
Brown and Chisholm came close to connecting with a deep Gray cross but Reid just managed to get there ahead of them to clear for a disappointingly wasted corner. Barrie Stephen missed a great opportunity to notch his second when he raced onto a loose ball after MacMillan could only parry a McKenzie pile driver from 20-yards. But the young striker scorned the chance when he blazed over with the goal at his mercy. MacMillan pulled off another fine stop a couple of minutes from the interval when he denied McKenzie again with a two-handed save after the lanky striker had found some room inside the Academy penalty area.

Manson fired a grounder just wide from distance and at the other end Chisholm headed over as the second half got underway.

McAdie gave the home side a real scare when he poked a chance inches wide after he had reacted quickly to some hesitancy between Bremner and Anderson at the back but the home defence just about got away with it. Oh and how Wick were made to rue that miss when a couple of minutes later they found themselves two goals down.

Barrie STEPHEN ran through unchallenged onto a Brown pass to slot the ball past a helpless MacMillan with the visiting defence looking across to the far-side linesman for an offside flag, which of course never came although it was mighty close

McKenzie drove high over the top following some neat control from the hit man but it's just not happening in front of goal for the blonde haired striker at present although his movement and link-up play is still a huge asset to the Banffers' play.

Wick's goal had an amazing escape after 65 minutes when firstly Levis Stephen's delicate chip came back off the face of the cross bar and when Barrie Stephen whipped the ball back into the mixer Mark Chisholm deflected the ball onto the post with the Academy defence at sixes and sevens. The ball eventually ended up back with Baz Stephen but he couldn't find the net either and volleyed it inches past the far post.
The home side deservedly scored their third of the afternoon soon after with again Steve "Dippy" Dolan the instigator.

Dippy's cross from the left was headed goal wards by Barrie Stephen and Paul URQUART met it on the goal line to make sure of his first of the season and Vale's third of the afternoon.
The "Scorries" weren't done however and McAdie drove into the Vale box only to fire weakly at Bremner when he really should have done better.

Barrie Stephen was denied his hat-trick by MacMillan who was quickly off his line to block although had Steve Dolan's lob been a little more accurate the keeper would have been picking the ball out of the net again after the defender's audacious attempt fell just short of landing in between the sticks.
Dolan then floated a freekick inches over the crossbar after Vale substitute Terry Kidd had been felled at the edge of the area. Barrie Stephen missed another chance to complete his treble when he lobbed MacMillan only to see the ball end up on the wrong side of the post following a slack piece of play at the back from MacLeod.
Craig Gunn scored a late consolation for the visitors when he took full advantage of some slack defending from the Vale rearguard and calmly lobbed into the net from 25-yards with Bremner caught in 'no man's land' and the remainder of the defence 'found wanting'.
Paul Urquhart received the sponsor's man-of-the-match award after a gritty performance in the middle of the park but he unfortunately also picked up the only caution of the game following a late challenge.

Following another home victory Gregg Carrol was reasonably happy with the three points. The Vale boss said, "It wasn't one of our best performances but I'm happy enough with the points. Wick came here to make it difficult and at times they succeeded getting plenty of bodies behind the ball but we did enough without finding top gear. However we still created plenty of chances and although we didn't take many of them I'm still pretty pleased with the overall attitude and application".

Carrol added "We now go to Huntly on Wednesday with confidence although caution as we know it is going to be a very tricky tie for us and I'm sure Billy Anderson will have his troops well up for the game but we can raise our game too and I'm sure the players are well aware of what is required on the night".

Vale:
Bremner, Dolan, Gray (McAllister 83), Chisholm (Kidd 70), Dlugonski, Anderson, #Urquhart (Pressley 83), L. Stephen, B. Stephen, McKenzie, Brown
Subs not used: Campbell, Watt

Wick:
MacMillan, Reid, Lamb, Robertson, MacLeod, Manson, M. Gunn, Shearer, Henderson (C. Gunn 57), McAdie (Sutherland 90), Cowie (Weir 77)
Subs not used: None

Referee: M Pirie