Gregg Carrol's assistant Kenny Gilbert played his first ninety minutes in a Vale jersey and played a staring role, which culminated with him hitting the winning goal in Artic conditions at Princess Royal Park.

Wick came as close as they've come in many a year to picking up a point in their travels to Banff when they cut Vale's advantage to just one goal with fifteen minutes remaining but the home side held their nerve to see out the match to notch their thirteenth league win of the season which saw them climb above Clach into fourth in the table.

Surprisingly, Banff seemed to have missed the worst of the severe cold weather which had put paid to the majority of the fixtures in the Highland League and their only worry was whether their visitors for the day would manage the long trek from Caithness safely although the journey home will have turned out to be a disappointing one for football reasons as Alastair Budge and his side as they lost to their hosts for the second time this campaign in closely fought match played in difficult conditions.

Gregg Carrol decided to change his formation and his starting eleven for the encounter with the "Scories" electing to go with a four-four-two which saw Carl Farrimond re-instated into the midfield alongside Kenny Gilbert who was starting his first game since ironically enough Wick away back in October. Mark Chisholm missed out through a thigh strain, which meant Robbie Brown switching to central defence alongside Mark Slater. There was also a rare start for Graeme Cadger at the expense of Jamie Watt, who dropped to the subs bench.

The visitors were missing the influential Nigel MacKenzie however Craig Shearer gave them a boost when he passed a late fitness prior to kick off.

Vale had the strong north wind at their backs for the first forty-five but it was hard to say if this was an advantage or not due to its strength alongside the bumpy playing surface and the frequent showers of hail blowing in off the Moray Firth.

Steve Dolan had the best chance of the early stages but fired his effort well over the top after picking up a loose ball just inside the Academy penalty box and only Don MacMillan in the Wick goal to beat.

At the other end a defence splitting pass from Martin Gunn saw Martin MacGregor sprint away from the Vale back four but Steve Dolan did just enough when he got back to force the midfielder into a rushed shot which ended up well wide of target.

The home side got their nooses in front in the eighteenth minute lead thanks mainly to the upper body strength of come back striker Graeme Cadger.

"Cadge" picked up the ball with his back to goal just outside the penalty area and as he held his position looking for a lay-off he was pushed in the back by Alex Lamb. Referee Cammy McKay awarded the free kick and Mike McKENZIE did the rest when he sent a rasping drive past Don MacMillan and into the bottom corner from the resultant set piece.

McKenzie almost notched his second moments later but his well-struck volley from a tight angle fizzed past the far post and out for a goal kick.

As Vale went looking for another Steve Dolan picked out Graeme Cadger with an in-swinging corner but the striker's headed drifted a foot past the par stick.

However Gregg Carrol's boys did double their advantage minutes later with a sweeping move. Bryan Dlugonski's cross field pass picked out Steve Dolan and the evergreen "Dippy" made good ground before striking the ball goalwards across Don MacMillan. The keeper at full stretch made good contact with Dolan's effort but failed to hold onto the ball and Paul URQUHART arrived right on cue to sweep the loose ball home from two or three yards.

A decent run into the Vale box from Andy MacLeod almost paid off for the visitors but Carl Farrimond who had tracked the Wick midfielder all the way was on hand to thump clear before MacLeod could feed in the waiting Henderson.

A timely interception from Mark Slater released Paul Urquhart but after making good progress the midfielder fired weakly straight at MacMillan.

Ross Bremner was called into action shortly before the interval but it was an easy enough stop for the big keeper as Craig Shearer's header from a free kick found its way goalwards with little power to trouble him.

Mark Smith almost made it three on the half time whistle but Don MacMillan got down well turn his effort around the post for a fruitless corner kick.

The second half had an amazing opening three minutes to it when either side hit the net inside sixty seconds of each other.

Firstly Wick's Craig Shearer poked home from close range after good work from MacGregor down the right who had shown Steve Dolan a clean pair of heals before crossing low to the unmarked scorer.

The visitors over exuberant celebrations were short lived when Vale went straight up the other end and regained their two-goal cushion.

Paul Urquhart's lay-off found Kenny GILBERT if acres of room twenty-five yards from goal and the experienced midfielder picked his spot which again saw Don MacMillan get a good hand to the ball but failed to keep it from bulging the far corner of the net.
The strangely quiet Mike McKenzie carved out a decent opportunity for the tireless Paul Urquhart but he saw his goal-bound effort blocked and as the ball broke Carl Farrimond also had his shot deflected wide of target by the hard-working Academy defence.
Paul Urquhart then completely missed a Carl Farrimond low cross from the right 8-yards out but to be fair to the midfielder he did see it late after Lamb's attempted clearance was also fresh-aired just ahead of the lingering "Yogi".

Stuart Gray replaced Farrimond for the final twenty minutes but it didn't turn out to be a comfortable one for Gregg Carrol's title hopefuls.

Mark Slater did well to prevent Gavin Henderson with a clear path to goal with another timely interception before Wick scored their second of the afternoon.

A Robbie Brown pass-back to Ross Bremner sat up a bit for the Vale number one but he still should have dealt with it but somehow completely missed the ball and Craig Shearer gleefully headed the loose ball into the unguarded net with "Brems" left looking rather red faced on the ground wondering how on earth he missed it.

This meant a nervy fifteen minutes for the Banff side and tensions were running high all around the ground including down at the touchline where opposite numbers Gregg Carrol and Alastair Budge had to be pulled apart after bitterly disagreeing over Robbie Brown's yellow card for a lunge from behind on Gunn.
Substitute Jamie Watt who had just replaced Graeme Cadger was denied his fourteenth of the season as Don MacMillan spread himself well to foil the hit-man in a rare piece of goalmouth action during the latter stages.
Mark Smith was voted sponsor's man-of-the-match for the second game running as Vale just held on to clinch the vital three points

A relieved Gregg Carrol wasn't too downbeat after the game when he said, "It's three more points and that's all that matters at this stage of the season. It wasn't our best performance but we created enough chances to finish the game off as a contest but just failed to bury them. If we continue to win our games from now to the end of the March we won't be far away although there are some very tricky matches left to play. The general state of the pitches are making it harder to play attractive football but it's winning that really counts now".
Carrol confirmed that Mark Chisholm had a thigh injury but hoped it would clear up in time for next weeks huge match at Fraserburgh.

Vale:
Bremner, Dolan, Dlugonski (Capt), Slater, #Brown, Farrimond (Gray 68), #Gilbert (Kidd 90), McKenzie, Cadger (Watt 75), #Smith
Subs not used: - Craib, Phimister (GK)
Wick Academy
MacMillan, Reid (Robertson 68), #MacCullum, Lamb, MacLeod, MacGregor, Gunn, Shearer, Henderson (Davidson 85), #Manson, Weir
Subs not used: - MacDonald, Sinclair, Sutherland (GK)
Manager: Alastair Budge
Referee:  C. McKay