Inverurie Locos knocked Vale out of the John Bell Pipeline Aberdeenshire Shield at the semi-final stages with a narrow two-one victory on Wednesday evening at windy Harlaw Park and in doing so set up a final with Keith as they looked to retain the trophy won against the Banffers last season.
Gregg Carrol's Deveronvale have only themselves to blame after passing up three or four golden opportunities during the first forty-five minutes to build on their early lead, courtesy of Paul Urquhart, and allowing Locos to draw level with one of only two chances created by the home side in the first half when poor marking allowed Kenny Coull all the time in the world to pick his spot with a glancing header.
The loss of Paul Urquhart just after the interval certainly seemed to an adverse effect on the visitors and Locos took a grip of the game before snatching victory through Craig Ross just after the hour mark and although there was still enough time for Vale to get back into the tie their heads went down and they looked jaded after putting so much effort into the early stages of the tie.
Holders Locos were without suspended captain Tommy Wilson, the injured Scott Buchan and the unavailable Marc Coull while Vale were minus injured duo Mark Chisholm & Graeme Cadger as the sides locked horns in Garioch for the third time this season.

Drizzle started to fall shortly before kick off adding a fiery pitch to the predicted hotly contested cup-tie with Vale kicking off in their blue away kit and firing up the Harlaw slope.
As expected a fast and furious opening saw Mark Smith almost get on the end of a miscue by Mark Simpson before a superb dash into the penalty area by Bryan Dlugonski ended with a superb low cross which eluded everyone inside the six-yard box before harmlessly running out of play at the far post.
Vale grabbed the initiative when Mike McKenzie's persistence paid off when he robbed Kevin Fraser before setting up strike partner Jamie Watt and although young keeper Stewart Gray spilled Jamie's effort he did even better when he blocked the rebound from Mark Smith but the ball fell kindly to Paul URQUHART who found the net from close range to put the Banffers into an eighth minute lead.
Locos responded and Kenny Coull set up Scott Taylor but the midfielder found the wrong side of the upright with his low crisp effort from 15-yards.
On Vale's first corner of the match Terry Kidd's ball back into the mixer picked out Bryan Dlugonski all alone whilst Locos tried to play the offside trap but the defender's effort rolled agonisingly across the face of goal and out for a goal-kick with Jamie Watt arriving a fraction of a second too late to prod the ball over the line.
Kenny Coull equalised for the home side with a well-placed header off Neil McLean's flighted free-kick with marker Ryan Pressley showing the deadly striker far too much time and space which saw Ross Bremner with no chance and firmly rooted to the spot.
Paul Urquhart seemed to twist his ankle awkwardly and left the field for treatment but this didn't stop the visitors creating another great chance when Jamie Watt was fed through on Stewart Gray but the striker somehow elected to chip the keeper from only 6-yards and only succeeded in placing the ball straight into the keeper's arms.
A sweeping six-man move created another good chance for the Banffers with the returning to action "Yogi" Urquhart just failing to connect with Gray's perfectly weighted ball to the far post.
Gray' pot shot from distance flew a couple of feet over the top before Mike McKenzie fired wide following a free-kick in a dangerous position.
Watt spurned an even better chance five minutes from the interval when he cut inside defender Steven Park before firing straight at Gray with the whole goal at his mercy.
John Young's long range drive failed to bring out a save from Ross Bremner as the first half came to a close, possibly at the wrong time for Gregg Carrol's side.

Stuart Gray saw an effort blocked before Mark Smith's header landed just the wrong side of the waiting Jamie Watt as Vale started as they finished the first period.
Three minutes into the restart Paul Urquhart was replaced by Steve Dolan as he failed to run off the ankle injury sustained earlier in the contest with Robbie Brown moving to midfield and Bryan Dlugonski joining Mark Slater and Ryan Pressley in a three-man defence.
An excellent timed tackle from Mark Simpson denied Stuart Gray as he drove into the Locos box and looked to pull the trigger and as the game swung to the other end Ross Bremner pulled off an instinctive if not fortunate save when he caught Scott Taylor's header right on the goal line after Simpson had cushioned a header into the midfielder's path. Craig Ross scored the winner shortly after the hour when he ran onto a Kenny Coull threaded pass before looping it over Ross Bremner and into the far corner.
Gregg Carrol made a couple of changes to try to inspire his side into snatching an equaliser with Karl Farrimond and Kenny Gilbert replacing Stuart Gray and Terry Kidd but Locos weren't to be denied and defended rigidly for the remainder of the game restricting Vale to very few opportunities and space in front of goal, protecting their young keeper who hardly had a save to make during the remainder of the match.
Steve Dolan's free kick was disappointingly straight into the defensive wall after Karl Farrimond won a generous free kick before Bryan Dlugonski came close with a rasping drive from distance which had Gray worried but flew inches past his left-hand post as time ran out on the visitors and sent them out of yet another cup competition at the hands of John Gardiner's fired-up troops.

Gregg Carrol was far from pleased with his sides' second half performance, Carol said, "the players got the praise they deserved at the break but their second half performance simply wasn't good enough and we got what we deserved. You have got to take your chances and I don't need to tell the boys that but you also have to defend when the opposition are having a good spell and we didn't do that for the second game in a row.
I'm very annoyed at certain players who showed a lack of heart and desire in the second period and it's simply not acceptable or good enough, I've got some serious thinking to do between now and Saturday before selecting my team for Wick but Graeme Cadger will still be missing and Mark Chisholm is a doubt".


Locos:
Gray, Fraser, Young, Walker (Davidson 60), Simpson, Park, #Singer, Taylor, #Coull, Ross (McWilliam 90), McLean (McKay 79)
Subs not used: Graham, Mess

Manager: John Gardiner

Vale:
Bremner, Dlugonski (Capt.), #Gray (Farrimond 68), Pressley, #Slater, Brown, Smith, Kidd (Gilbert 83), McKenzie, Watt, Urquhart (Dolan 48)
Subs not used: Hendry, Phimister (GK)


Referee: Craig Mackay