Abbey Vale suffer extra-time heartache in South of Scotland Challenge Cup

Abbey Vale suffered extra-time heartache in Saturday’s Utility Hut South of Scotland Challenge Cup meeting with Newton Stewart.

And gaffer Allan Clark admitted the additional half hour was the last thing his side had needed in the middle of a packed fixture schedule.

Vale led at the break thanks to Craig Kerr’s goal but Robert Middleton equalised just minutes from the end.

And the same player struck in extra-time to send Newton through.

Clark said: “We were by far the better team. We were completely in control, their keeper has made four or five great saves to keep them in the game.

“Unfortunately, a very weak clearance landed straight at their striker and he rifled it in.

“Extra-time was the last thing we actually wanted, especially with a semi-final coming up on the Tuesday night.

“Their keeper has had a few more good saves and then their striker has hit one we could have done a bit better with and we’ve not got a goal back.

“It’s very disappointing.”

The game was Vale’s third in five days, coming off the back of a 5-0 win over Lochar Thistle and a 6-2 triumph over Mid Annandale, both in the league.

Clark said: “We weren’t quite on it in the first half on Thursday.

“I made a few changes from the Tuesday night game due to the number of games coming up. We knew it wasn’t quite going to click but we were a fair bit off it in the first half.

“In the second half, to give the boys their due, they turned it on.

“I brought on Aiden Kerr at half-time and he turned the game for us and we won quite comfortably in the end.

“It secured us fourth place, which is nothing to go shouting and screaming about after winning it last year, but with what we were up against we knew it was going to be hard to