Deveronvale boss Gregg Carrol has major doubts over the availability of key players for their midweek trip to Huntly, in what must only be described as a win or bust match for the Banff side. Mike McKenzie hobbled out of Saturday's tussle with Nairn County with an ankle injury and with Carrol already minus the services of sidelined duo Mark Slater and Mark Smith it's going to take a mammoth effort from his players if they are to take anything from their short trip inland to Christie Park as they attempt to close the gap on title favourites Huntly.
McKenzie had just contributed towards Vale's second of the afternoon with an audacious volley which Jim Calder in the County goal was unable to hold, and was duly punished by the ever-alert Jamie Watt, before he had to be replaced and it doesn't look good at this stage for the Vale talisman.
Watt had carried on where he had left off last weekend by notching Vale's equaliser after the visitors opened the scoring after just two minutes but it took a Karl Farrimond header two minutes from time to finally secure the three points for the Banffers as plucky County made Vale work hard for their victory especially in the second forty five.
Nairn travelled to Banff on the back of a heavy home defeat to inform Forres the previous Saturday but albeit were on a decent run of form and Gregg Carrol was well aware that his side would have to be at their best if they were to keep up the pressure on the leaders at the summit of the league by winning the match. Mark Holmes was missing for the visitors while Mark Smith and Mark Slater were absentees for the home side.

Nairn veteran keeper Jim Calder was called into action soon after when he did well to bravely dive at the feet of Mark Chisholm to block before opposite number Ross Bremner brilliantly finger-tipped a deep Gary Farquhar free kick around his post after seeing the ball very late as it bounced up of the surface right in front of him.
The visitors looked dangerous again when they again caught Vale's defence rather square allowing Willie Barron a free run at goal but Bremner stood up well to firstly block and then smother Barron's effort from a slightly acute angle.
Paul Urquhart tested Calder with a grounder from 20-yards but it was pretty much a bread and butter save for the experienced keeper after good work down the left between Steve Dolan and Kenny Gilbert had set up the chance.
Another Dolan dash down the left and stand-up into the penalty area picked out the in-rushing Stuart Gray but the young defender's header was two or three feet wide of Calder's left-hand upright.

Ian Brooks pulled an effort wide from the edge of the Vale penalty box moments before that man Watt did it again.
A thunderous 16-yard volley from Mike McKenzie caught Calder slightly by surprise and although the keeper did get enough to prevent the ball entering the net his inability to neither clear or hold onto the ball presented the deadly instinctive Jamie WATT with his second of the afternoon with an easy finish from close range.
McKenzie limped off five minutes later and was replaced by Graeme Cadger before the game entered a bit of a lull.
However two minutes before the break substitute Cadger tee-ed up Kenny Gilbert with a nice reverse pass into the penalty area but Steve Edwards did well to block the Vale assistant's strike and then just as the half-time whistle was about to blow Mark Chisholm saw his effort well stopped by Jim Calder.

With fifteen minutes remaining Gregg Carrol made a much-needed change as Vale went looking for the all-important next goal when he swapped out Stuart Gray for Karl Farrimond.
The hard-working visitors came very close to making Vale pay for their inability to kill off the match when substitute Martin Sanderson ran onto a ball in behind the home defence only for the unsung hero Ross Bremner to race from his line, push the ex-Clach player wide before saving his effort from a difficult angle to more or less seal the three points for the Banffers.
A great piece of tenacious play from Kenny Gilbert set up Graeme Cadger who unselfishly laid the ball to the unmarked Paul Urquhart should have been Vale's third of the afternoon but somehow from 8-yards "Yogi" completely missed the target with only Calder standing in the way of his sixth of the season.
With just two minutes of normal time remaining vale finally made the points safe when Steve Dolan burst into the Nairn box before picking out the unmarked Karl FARRIMOND who gleefully headed home from close range.
Jamie Watt was voted the sponsor's man-of-the-match.

A slightly relieved Gregg Carrol thought his side deserved the three points when he said, "I thought we back to our best in the first half and played some need football on the deck although we couldn't have got off to a worse a start. The second period wasn't so good but we did create chances and probably should have killed them off much earlier than we did although credit to the visitors who made it a difficult second forty-five for us. Nairn have a good set of players and I wasn't that surprised that they made a good game of it but credit to our lads too as they did work hard and defended pretty well for most of the game"
Carrol admitted that he was looking forward to locking horns with Huntly on Wednesday evening but couldn't confirm which if any of his injured players would be available for selection