If history is anything to go by then look no further than Vale's narrow victory at Rothes' Mackessock Park on Saturday when thanks to Grant Noble's injury time winner Gregg Carrol's side came away with all three points after trailing by two early Michael Ewen goals and looking to be heading for their third league of the season.

Deveronvale's title winning team also saw the Banffers come back from two goals down to avoid defeat at the same venue, so for the superstitious amongst us it may just be an omen of things to come although there's a long long way to go in a very competitive ScotAds Highland League.

Michael Ewen's opportunist strikes had Rothes firmly in the driving seat but with Ian Murray scoring five minutes from the interval and Mark Smith levelling the match a minute after the break it certainly added to an exciting second period which saw chances fall mainly in the home penalty box and although it looked more and more like a draw would be the outcome cometh super sub Grant Noble who popped up in the right place at the right time to snatch victory for his team right at the death.

Manager Gregg Carrol thought his players just about deserved the points in a tough encounter in the Speyside Valley. Carrol said, "We may have been caught cold for the first two goals after having a couple of blank Saturdays but once we changed things around and got the ball down we played some good stuff against a very well organised side who played to a system which was mainly designed to frustrate us and very nearly paid off. I did think however that our final ball was poor and we didn't really looking like grabbing the winner until young Grant popped up late in the game."

Carrol went into the match without the suspended Mike McKenzie and decided to go with a four-four-two formation which saw Robbie Brown starting at an unfamiliar right-back position. Steve Dolan returned from injury and along with Ross McWilliam gave the Vale the width in the midfield.

Rothes who have surprised a few this season by winning at both Huntly and Inverurie were without Kevin Shortreed and Jamie Miller but did welcome back Nathan Sharp to their line-up in a four-five-one formation.

Mark Chisholm led out the visitors as he captained the Banffers to mark his two-hundredth appearance in a Vale jersey.

Things got even worse for the visitors when stand-in skipper Mark Chisholm was also punished for not efficiently clearing his lines when he had the opportunity and Ewen made him pay when he scored his second in nine minutes with another crisp strike which flew past James Blanchard and landed just inside his right-hand post.
Darren Strong stood up well to turn Ian Murray's angled effort into the side netting for another disappointing corner before Ross McWilliam went down in the box looking for a penalty but referee Ryan Milne, who was dawning a luminous lime-green top, rightly waved play on.
Jamie Watt had a stronger shout for a spot kick minutes later when he was clearly pushed in the back as he looked to stroke home a Kenny Gilbert cushioned header but the man in "green" said 'nothing doing'.

Vale continued to have the upper hand with the Speysiders happy to sit back and protect their lead and had yet another shout for pen when Robbie Brown appeared to be bundled over at the near post as he looked to latch onto Mark Chisholm's headed knock down but this time referee Milne seemed to be unsighted to the incident and infuriated the Banff contingent by awarding another corner which saw Alan Stephen clear with the aid of his own cross bar.
Ian MURRAY got his side back in the game when his solo dribble inside the eighteen yard box set up the opportunity before he caught out Darren Strong at his near post with a low strike into the net from 8-yards.

With the game entering injury time Vale won themselves their thirteenth corner of the match desperately looking for the winner and after passing up twelve similar set pieces without really looking like piercing the home defence it didn't look likely they would make the thirteenth count but enter super sub Grant Noble.
Kenny Gilbert's swinging corner was met by a clutch of Rothes defenders but instead of the ball clearing the penalty box it actually landed straight at the feet of the unmarked Grant NOBLE and he swivelled to dispatch the ball under the helpless Darren Strong from 6-yards to make it a very lucky thirteen for Gregg Carrol's boys.
The game ended on a sour note when the unfortunate Danny Craib took a nasty one minutes after the winning goal was scored when he clashed heads with Rothes substitute Michael Smith. Craib was taken to hospital after the match for an x-ray on his injured head.