Deveronvale came from behind for the third home game in a row to grab all three points in an absolute thriller at Princess Royal Park to see off fellow title hopefuls Forres Mechanics.

Trailing to Steve MacKay's highly contested first-half penalty Gregg Carrol side fought their way back to pick up maximum points thanks to Man of the Match Mark Smith who's brace of headers sandwiched between substitute Jamie Watt's ninety-eighth senior goal for the club saw the majority of the large support go home happy.

The Banffers were dealt a huge blow ahead of the clash of the league's first and second placed sides when assistant manager Kenny Gilbert failed to shake off an injury picked at Keith on Tuesday leaving Gregg Carrol to slot midfielder Terry Kidd into the right-back role, a position that "Tel" had played before but is not one he is particularly comfortable with. Paul Urquhart returned to the Vale midfield after a bout of flu.

Steve Paterson's men were at full strength, welcoming back former Ross County utility man Steve MacKay to their line-up after he missed Tuesday's win over Cove Rangers.

The confident looking visitors were quick out of the blocks and only a fine challenge by Bryan Dlugonski on Lewis MacKinnon prevented the lanky-striker from opening the scoring.
Ian Murray passed up a decent chance at the other end when he dragged his free kick from 25-yards well wide after Neil Whyte hauled down Mark Smith from behind.
Graeme Grant forced his own keeper into a smart save when his back-header was aiming for the top corner before Mike McKenzie volleyed over after waltzing beyond a couple of Can Can defenders.
McKenzie wasted a second opportunity when presented with a clear sight of goal after a mix up by Forres at the back but central defenders McGinlay and Grant forced the Vale number nine onto his weaker left and out wide which resulted in McKenzie pulling his effort past the upright.
With twenty minutes gone referee Milne adjudged Bryan Dlugonski's challenge on Craig MacMillan inside the penalty area to be an illegal one after a poor pass in field from Terry Kidd was pounced on by Lewis MacKinnon. Although the Vale players pleaded with the ref that he'd got it wrong he wasn't for changing his mind and although it seemed harsh Steve Mackay wasted no time and sent James Blanchard the wrong way from the spot.
Martin Rae was tested by a Vale player for the first time in the match when Mark Smith's dipping volley was tipped over the top after Ian Murray's half chance was partially cleared to the unmarked "Rusty".
The visitors came within the width of the cross bar of doubling their advantage with a swift move down the left which saw Steve MacKay reach the bye-line before crossing to find Craig Macmillan.

The Highland League's top-scorer saw his header came off the underside of the bar before James Blanchard smothered the ball on his goal-line as MacKinnon arrived on cue in an attempt to poke home the loose ball.
As the game swung to the other end Ian Murray tried an ambitious lob as he broke clear but from the difficult angle the tireless "Molby" sent his effort over the top of Rae's goal frame.
Martin Rae was glad to have the advantage of a kind deflection before the ball reached him after Mike McKenzie had struck a 22-yarder goalwards with plenty of venom but the touch off one of his defenders took the sting out of the ball thus making the save that bit easier for the Forres number one.
Steve Paterson's side were happy to sit-in and try to break on the counter and all that was missing on two or three occasions as the half came to a close was the final choice of ball as they broke time and time again with pace and bodies.

Vale kicked off the second period knowing that anything less than victory would seriously jeopardise their title aspirations and made an immediate impression winning a series of corner which were well dealt with until Mark Smith out-jumped the Can Can's defence but saw his looping header just clear the crossbar.
Thanks to some stern defending which saw McGinlay and Grant use their experience to thwart all Vale were throwing at them Forres broke yet again with purpose and pace but Craig MacMillan pulled his effort wide when well placed.
Then Neil Whyte warmed the hands of "Blanchy" after he dispossessed Mark Smith and drove at Vale's penalty box.
Ian Murray went down in the Forres 18-yard area after he had cleverly cut inside McGinlay but referee Milne refused to even things up by awarding Vale what would have been a soft penalty.
Murray then planted the ball in the back of the net after a quick sweeping move which had seen Mark Smith play-in Mike McKenzie before he had squared to the unmarked Murray but much to the annoyance of the frustrated "valley crew" the much-aligned referee pulled the game back and awarded the visitors a free kick for an off the ball incident against Mark Smith which seemed harsh on the Vale number eight who seemed to be the innocent party rather than the perpetrator in his tangle with Campbell in the middle of the park.
On their tenth corner of the encounter Vale grabbed the all-important equaliser when Mark SMITH was on hand at the back post to head into the roof of the net after Ross McWilliam's flag-kick was flicked on by Robbie Brown on the six-yard line.
Lewis MacKinnon was sent off for collecting two quick bookings in succession as the game started to heat up. MacKinnon first card was for cynically hauling down Mark Smith from behind and literally a minute later the midfielder was off for an early shower for encroaching at the resultant free kick.
The extra man advantage seemed to energise the homesters and Ian Murray very nearly gave them the lead with a free kick straight from the training ground but Martin Rae was equal to it with a fine save high at his left-had post. A goalmouth scramble ensued following the resulting corner but Robbie Brown just failed to poke home and the Mechanics just about cleared their lines.
Ross McWilliam was tripped right on the edge of the Forres penalty box as he wriggled his way past two or three challenges but referee Milne felt the wrath of the home support yet again when he only awarded a free kick rather than a penalty. However, Ian Murray stepped and must have thought he had scored when his bulleted strike came back off the upright before running across the face of goal and out of play with Martin Rae firmly rooted to the spot.

Both managers made a change in order to pick up the points with ten man Forres sending on the experienced Charlie Brown for the out of luck Craig MacMillan and Gregg Carrol withdrawing Terry Kidd at the expense of striker Jamie Watt.
Within three minutes of entering the fold Jamie WATT made his manager's decision to send him on worthwhile when he stabbed home an Ian Murray cushioned header beyond Rae although the ball seemed to take forever before it finally landed in the back of the net.
Another scramble inside the Can Can's six-yard box was again cleared to safety with both Mark Smith and Jamie Watt prevented from netting their respective second goals of the afternoon with some desperate defending from the visitors.
An off the ball incident during the melee saw the ref consult his far-side linesman but a free kick was awarded to the Mechanics as the crowd waited patiently for another chapter in the drama to unfold.
Charlie Brown thought he may have won a penalty when Steve Dolan challenged the substitute for a deep cross into the Vale box but the man-in-the-middle wasn't interested in the visitor's half-hearted claims much to the relief of the home support.
Sponsors man-of-the-match Mark SMITH made absolutely sure of all three points for his side when he looped a header well out of the reach of Martin Rae after latching onto Mike McKenzie's searching ball to the back stick.

Gregg Carrol was particularly pleased with his side's first half performance but sang their praises for a stirring second period when he said, "I didn't think we did particularly well in the first forty-five although our defence was pretty solid. Our midfield and strikers were told at the interval to be more alert and defend from the front and this certainly was the case in the second period when we congealed much better and ran out deserved, in my opinion, winners in then end".
Carrol continued "The sending off was a big moment in the match but to be fair we had bombarded their goal from the second half kick off and it was only a matter of time before we equalised although sometimes when your chasing the game it does make you more anxious and things don't always come off as at Keith on Tuesday".
Vale have another huge match next Saturday when Buckie Thistle come calling and this will be another six-pointer for both sides as the tightest league contest in many a year continues to throw up weekly excitement like a soap opera.

Vale:
Blanchard, Dolan, Kidd (J. Watt 80), #Chisholm (Cpt), Dlugonski, Brown, McWilliam, Smith (Craib 90), McKenzie, Murray, #Urquhart
Subs not used: G. Watt, Noble, Phimister (GK)

Forres:
Rae, Munro, MacKay, Grant, McGinlay, #Campbell, Whyte (#Matheson 70), ##MacKinnon, MacMillan (Brown 78), Sanderson, Green
Subs not used: Rogers, De Barros, Rowley
Manager: Steve Paterson


Referee:  R. Milne