Vale of Leven Juniors’ boss Brian Brown admitted it was good to bounce back on Saturday - and believes the win shows the progress his side have made.
The Vale were on Scottish Junior Cup duty in Lanarkshire to take on Newmains United in the wake of a bruising 7-1 league defeat to St Roch’s last time out.
The visitors were in convincing form, with first half goals from Lee McGeachy and Lewis King followed up by further strikes in the second period from Chris Jackson and Callum Richardson.
Manager Brown hailed his side’s character in responding to the previous week’s disappointment and reiterated the importance of progressing in the competition to the club.
He said: “It was a comfortable win and it was very good to bounce back after the previous game.
“The boys turned up with the right attitude; we were looking for a response and we had a good week in training, everyone came in on Monday and we managed to put a couple of things right.
“The Junior Cup has a load of history attached to it and Vale have had really good runs in it over the years, so we need to try and progress in it.
“Our league games so far have been against sides that have come from divisions above us before the conferences came in.
“So it was good to get back to the teams we were playing before the West of Scotland and it shows how far we have progressed.”
The Newmains fixture also marked the milestone 300th appearance for striker David McNaught, who has notched up 85 goals for the Vale in his time with the club.
Brian added: “David has been a fantastic servant to the club and is also one of the nicest guys you’ll meet in junior football.
“He has had his issues with injuries and keeps coming back and hopefully he’ll become part of the coaching staff when he’s done playing, although he’s still got a couple of years left.
“You always need guys like David around the club, who will help the younger guys along - he never misses training and always makes himself available.”
The Vale will find out their next opponents in the Junior Cup when the third round draw is made this week, with Kilsyth Rangers the next opponents at Millburn Park on league duty on Saturday.
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