Abbey Vale boss Allan Clark feared it was going to be “one of those days” against St Cuthbert Wanderers on Saturday.
The Maryfield Park side had plenty of chances at St Mary’s Park, only to be behind at the break thanks to a tremendous Charlie Caygill free-kick.
But Vale hit back in the second half, an own goal bringing them level before Braden Bruce headed them in front.
Clark said: “I think we missed quite a few really good chances, I don’t think they could have complained if we were 6-0 up at half-time.
“We thought it was going to be one of those days where we couldn’t score, then they scored from a free-kick and it changed the outlook of the game a bit.
“The boys dug in deep and scored two goals late on so we were quite happy to get three points.
“For the whole game we had a lot of possession. We were always comfy but when you go a goal behind, you need to get two and Saints did well to hang on to it. They dug in deep, made it hard for us and sat in with nine men behind the ball.
“It made it very hard for us to try to break them down. If we’d taken our chances in the first half we’d have been comfy but unfortunately we didn’t.”
Vale have added to their squad with four players arriving on loan.
Youngsters Taylor Davidson, Cammy Edgar and Shaun Petry have come in on loan from Queen of the South for the rest of the season, with Ben Wallace joining on a short term deal from Lochar Thistle.
Clark said: “We had to boost the squad and it’s competition for places. Hopefully it has the right effect.
“Ben is only for a month but I’m hoping it’s going to be longer. We’ll see how he gets on and how much game time he gets then it’s getting reviewed.
“All going well, it’ll be extended.”
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This Saturday, Vale’s focus switches to the Potts Cup with a first round trip to Creetown in store.
Clark added: “It’s always a tough one down there. It’ll be a completely different game to Saturday when we kept a lot of the ball and had it on the deck.
“They always make it a hard fight down there. We’ll need to be up for the battle – we want to win a cup this year and to do that you need to go to places like that and win.”