VALE of Leven manager Hugh Hamill is adamant there are plenty of reasons to be positive at Millburn Park despite a difficult start to the season.

Following changes off the pitch during the summer and some fresh blood in the playing squad, the Vale faithful were looking forward to a better season in the Central District Second Division following a disappointing campaign last year.

However defeats to big spending Gartcairn, Forth Wanderers and East Kilbride Thistle, as well as Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Newmains have dampened enthusiasm.

And Hamill insists his side didn’t get the points they deserved from those opening fixtures.

He said: “It has been disappointing results wise but not in terms of performances. I said to the boys the other day, we are not playing badly we are just being careless.

“We are playing well, scoring goals and then shooting ourselves in the foot. Against East Kilbride we lost 3-2 and East Kilbride must’ve went home thinking ‘how have we won that?’ “Some silly individual mistakes are costing us goals.

“But we need to keep believing, keep working hard and it just needs a wee bit of luck, once we get going we’ll be fine, we have a decent team.” Despite the encouraging performances, Hamill is under no illusions that Vale have put themselves under pressure to keep their hopes of promotion alive.

In a 22 game league the margin for error is slim and the Millburn Park boss knows his side’s results will have to improve quickly.

He said: “I would say it does put us under pressure, without a doubt. No one is going to go through this league without someone beating them, it can be quite competitive.

“You can maybe afford to lose five or six and still get promotion but we are using up some of our lives earlier than we would like, that’s for sure.”