Lossie suffered a third consecutive home defeat to an Aberdeenshire club this weekend, but continued their recent habit of making the opposition work for their money. Deveronvale strolled to an early 2-0 lead in the first half and had the Lossie support looking nervously at each other as memories of an 8-1 hiding began to surface, but a Craig Morrison penalty early in the second half set up an entertaining finale, marred only by particularly miserable weather conditions. 

A cold day met the teams, with Lossie once again fielding Masterton in goal in place of an injured McConnachie, who is now rumoured to be facing a long spell on the sidelines. Deveronvale were without Lossie fans favourite Ian Murray, who was offshore, but the Banff side still fielded a side which, on paper, threatened to dangerously unbalance the game as a contest.

The visitors made most of the early running, with Mike McKenzie again enjoying a game against his former club. He and Michael Ewen caused Lossie problems early on as the home side struggled to escape their own half.

Deveronvale took an unsurprising lead in the 18th minute A short corner routine between Dolan and McKenzie saw the latter cross from the left, with the ball bypassing a sleeping Lossie defence and an unmarked Mark CHISHOLM appeared at the back post to knock the ball into the roof of the net from a few inches out.

Vale doubled their lead midway through the half when Mark SMITH collected possession from a Youngson headed clearance and rifled a perfect shot beyond Masterton to the far post.

Lossie took the hint and started pushing out of defence, with Muir having the Reds first half chance, lobbing Blanchard from the edge of the box but misjudging the height and sending the ball way over the bar. Moments later Youngson sent a curling ball through the Vale defence to Morrison, who missed it by inches after finding himself unmarked in the box.

Vale could have finished the game just short of the half-time whistle when Ewen beat Watson for pace and raced through to shoot, only for Masterton to palm the ball low away from goal for a corner.

Half time – Lossiemouth 0 Deveronvale 2

Lossie showed towards the end of the first they were up for the fight and an early penalty gave the opportunity to haul themselves back into the game. Mark Cowie felled Graeme Wilson in the box, and Craig MORRISON stepped up to reduce the deficit.

Then it started raining, and any chance of fluent football was washed away. Both sides continued to create half chances, with Fraser Bremner lashing a shot over the bar before Steve Dolan decided to show him how to do it properly, only to hit the ball over the bar and half way to Hopeman.

Vales last serious chance came with twenty minutes left, when Scott Fraser nodded goalward a Mike McKenzie free kick, only to see Masterton produce a fine one handed save to keep Lossie in the game.

Lossie could have equalised with ten minutes remaining, when Steven Rattray flicked on a long throw from Mark Sanderson, only to watch as it dribbled across the face of goal and clipped the post before heading out.

As the miserable conditions continued, the referee saw no need to keep everyone outside any longer than necessary and blew for time sharply on 90 minutes. Lossie gave Vale a better game than most expected, but the Banffers always looked like they had another gear if needed, whereas Lossie were always struggling to create solid goalscoring opportunities.

Full time – Lossiemouth 1 Deveronvale 2

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