3 or bust in basement battle

0 - 0 • Published 29 Apr 2009 10:18 0 Comments

VALE boss Hugh Hamill is praying for a hat-trick of victories as he bids to perform a Houdini act.

Relegation is fast becoming a formality for struggling Vale, but boss Hugh Hamill is hopeful his side can beat the drop starting with a win against Johnstone Burgh.

Having already met one another in the league and league cup, Hamill will be desperate to chalk up a third victory in this do-or-die clash at Millburn Park on Saturday.

Hamill said: 'We are under no illusions, the Johnstone match is a must win - they all are.

'We have six games to go and we need at least four victories if we are to stand a chance.'

Vale may have gained some form at the right time, beating Renfrew 7-2 in a friendly last Thursday.

He added: 'The mood in the camp is fine - always has been.

'We have a good young team, possibly too young and that may have been part of our downfall.

'We played really well against Benburb and lost 2-1, we played well against Maryhill and lost 2-1 - anyone watching us would be astounded that we didn"t win.'

The Vale are currently 12th in the league, one point ahead of basement boys Burgh, but have played five more games than the Keanie Park side and Hamill is fully aware relegation is looming large.

He said: 'I don"t think any team is too good to go down, we are going to try our hardest, but if we do [get relegated], we definitely have the motivation to come right back up.

'It"s important for us to keep our key players, we have good young talent coming through - the future"s bright - but we need to stay in the league.'

Should the Vale go down it may be hard to keep hold of players like top-talisman Mark Pawsey, who has 15 goals so far this season.

'I wouldn"t hold any players back, especially if a senior club were interested,' said Hamill, 'although I think [Pawsey] would benefit from staying for a season or two longer.'

Tweet

Post a comment

Your Comment:

Registered users log in here

Username or email

Password

You must be logged in to post. If you have not registered with us, please do so now.

Registration only takes a few minutes. Registered users do not have to complete word verification once logged in and can also take part in competitions and other registered user only features of the site.

Word Verification:
Enter the text as shown.

Follow @dumbartonreport

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Sport archives.