Seventeen-year-old Banff loon Graeme Watt couldn't have picked a more important moment to score his first senior goal for the club when he looped a header into the net midway through the second half of a pulsating encounter with fellow title hopefuls Forres Mechanics.

The home side, who really needed all three points if they were to keep their chances of winning the league alive, led at the interval courtesy of Lewis MacKinnon's crisp strike from 18-yards but substitute Watt squared the match leaving his side requiring seven points from three games to make sure the Championship Flag is flying over Princess Royal Park come the end of the season.

Steve Paterson, with rookie goalkeeper Robbie Taylor between the sticks, knew his side needed all three points from the game and his chances of achieving it were greatly increased when Neil Whyte was passed fit to captain his side although keeper Taylor was to a certain extent an tried commodity.

An early Steve McKay corner just eluded the huge frame of Ryan Green at the back stick as the homeside put the Banffers on the back-foot from the kick-off with the first of many high balls into the Vale penalty box, which was to be the pattern of play for long periods of the match.
Debutant keeper Taylor did his confidence the power of good when he blocked a close range effort from Ian Murray five minutes later, an opportunity that Murray may feel he should have tucked away. Ross McWilliam then saw his 25-yard drive parried by the Forres number one but no red shirts were on hand to turn the loose ball home.
As Vale continued their purple patch Mike McKenzie showed some neat trickery to get to the bye-line but his cutback was too high for the lurking Murray at the back post.
A quick breakaway from Steve McKay's corner saw Ian Murray turn provider with a defence splitting pass to Mike McKenzie but the ball seemed to take a slight bobble on the surface as 'Mikee' met the ball first-time and the ball flew wide as Taylor narrowed the angle.
Mark Chisholm's looping header had to be tipped over the top by the busy Taylor but Vale failed to make the resultant corner kick count.
Football can be a cruel game and the visitors paid the price for their missed opportunities when Mechanics raced into the lead.

An up-and-under from Dave McGinlay, which almost had snow on it when it eventually came down, saw Mark Chisholm and Craig MacMillan jump together for the high ball and as the ball broke kindly to the unmarked Lewis MacKinnon at the edge of the area the striker struck a sweet volley into the bottom corner.
A timely interception from veteran McGinlay was perfectly timed to avoid Ross McWilliam picking out the in-rushing Paul Urquhart as Vale responded immediately.
Forres, buoyed by their opener, started to dictate play and Lewis MacMillan's diving header flew over from another set piece, which Vale had to defend stoutly.
The visitors had a decent opportunity to pull level just short of the interval when they won a freekick 25-yards from goal but Ian Murray's curling effort just failed to find the top corner with Robbie Taylor well beat.

Gregg Carrol's hand was forced at the break when Robbie Brown had to be replaced due to injury and the manager showed his mettle when he elected to change things around and bring on the inexperienced Graeme Watt to play on the left and move Paul Urquhart into a more central area of Vale's midfield.
Steve McKay's speculative volley from distance had the home support hopeful for a moment but the ball was always on the way upward and James Blanchard was quite comfortable as he watched it fly over the top.
Substitute Graeme Watt was then clattered by Neil Whyte at the edge of the Forres box but again Ian Murray failed to find the target from the set piece, this time the wall doing their job by deflecting the ball wide for a Steve Dolan flag kick.
Top-scorer Mark Smith might have left "Dippy's" corner to Watt, who was in a better position, rather than attempt an overhead kick, which ended-up well over the top.

The visitors were now starting to apply some constant pressure on the home defence and only a brave piece of play from Steve McKay denied Ian Murray a certain equaliser when the former Lossiemouth player threw himself in front of "Molby's" close-range strike to protect his side's narrow lead although the defender was in need of treatment before the game could be restarted.
Mark Chisholm headed weakly at Taylor form the resultant corner but Vale got their just reward minutes later from the unlikeliest of sources.
Ross McWilliam swung a cross in from the right and it bobbled it's way though to find Graeme WATT who nipped in a head of the hesitant Robbie Taylor to loop the ball perfectly over the head of the keeper's outstretched hand and into the net.
McWilliam might have done better three minutes later when perfectly picked out by Mark Smith but the winger oddly headed well wide when well placed to steer the ball home.

The Banffers found an extra gear from their equaliser and Graeme Watt eluded three challenges to set up Mike McKenzie but Robbie Taylor raced from his line to clear ahead of arriving "Mikee".
Neil Whyte's challenge from behind on Watt inside the area saw the referee have to make a big decision but it seemed to be right one when a corner was given rather than a spot kick.
A moments hesitation from Mark Chisholm saw the skipper loose possession to substitute Charlie Brown but the latter's ball to Neil Whyte was well blocked by Bryan Dlugonski - who had a fine game in defence for the visitors.
Neil Whyte, just back from injury, was stretchered off near the end after a challenge with Paul Urquhart saw the captain fall awkwardly.
Forres dynamo Steve McKay tried to catch out James Blanchard with a cheeky free kick from distance but the visiting keeper was as alert as ever to save low to his right-hand post and as the "Valley Crew" held their breath Charlie Brown pounced on another slack piece of defending but blazed his effort well-wide when in a great position to work "Blanchy".
With ninety minutes played a break up field saw Steve Dolan drive towards Taylor's goal but his final pass to the waiting Jamie Watt was brilliantly intercepted by none other than Charlie Brown who had tracked back ahead of his fellow defensive colleagues to clear over his own crossbar.
Deep into stoppage time Jamie Watt had an even better chance to pick up all three points for the Banffers but turned onto his weaker left foot before firing over the top when perhaps a better choice of ball was to play-in Ross McWilliam who was completely unmarked to the right of him.

A beaming Gregg Carrol could not hide his delight when he said, "We're very happy with a point especially after being behind at the break and the result coming in from Inverurie. I told the guys at half-time that Huntly were leading two-nil and all we needed was a goal and young Graeme came up with the goods although I wasn't too sure where a goal was going to come from to be honest".
"We're very close now but we must keep our feet firmly on the ground as we haven't won anything yet and these three remaining games won't be easy.
However next week is a break from the pressure of the league race and a few of the lads have knocks so we will probably have to rest a few of them but for now we're all delighted to be in the position that we're in and it's still in our own hands".

Forres:
Taylor, Munro, Morrison, Grant, #McGinlay, Campbell (Sanderson 78), Whyte (De-Barros 85), #MacKinnon, MacMillan (Brown 75), McKay, Green
Subs not used: Matheson, Rogers
Manager: Steve Paterson

Vale:
Blanchard, Dolan, Gilbert, Chisholm (Cpt), Dlugonski, Brown (G.Watt 46), McWilliam, Smith, McKenzie (J.Watt 87), Murray, Urquhart
Subs not used: Craib, Noble, Bremner (GK)


Referee:  R. Milne (3.5)