Captain Harry Noble has been encouraged by the improvements Deveronvale have made this season – but doesn’t want the Banffers to let up in the second half of the campaign.
Deveronvale have played half of their league fixtures and are sitting 10th in the table with a tally of 24 points.
That’s just one shy of what they managed to amass for all of last term and the Princess Royal Park outfit have already won seven league fixtures this season compared to only five victories during the 2023-24 campaign.
Skipper Noble, 29, said: “It’s been a positive season so far, particularly if you look at the points tally compared with last season.
“We’ve been going on good wee runs, we’ve won our last three games and won four out of our last five in all competitions.
“But we’re only at the halfway stage of the season and we need to keep going.
“Although there have been games where we’ve done well and got results people maybe didn’t expect, like beating Banks o’ Dee and Brora.
“There have also been games where we’ve let ourselves down and haven’t got to the levels we should have.
“There’s still room to improve, but overall it’s been very positive so far this season.”
Changes paying off
Deveronvale embarked upon a summer of change following the conclusion of last season.
Aaron Lorimer took over as chairman, while Garry Wood was appointed as manager and has revamped the squad.
Noble is Vale’s longest serving player having joined in January 2018 and he believes the changes that have been made are paying off.
The left-back, who has also been playing on the left of midfield this season, added: “We’ve built some decent momentum and we’re going into games with a positive attitude.
“We feel we’ve got confidence that we can get something out of any game.
“There have been a lot of changes at the club both in terms of the chairman, the board and the manager and also the squad.
“Bringing in a lot of players doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to win games, but we’ve always had a good changing room and everyone that’s come in has fitted in really well and everyone gets on.
“I think that really helps, everyone is working for each other. The last couple of years have been disappointing, but it’s a lot more positive now.”
Deveronvale return to action on next Saturday when they face Strathspey Thistle at Seafield Park in the Highland League and on Tuesday week they will tackle Turriff United at the Haughs in the quarter-final of the Morrison Motors (Turriff) Aberdeenshire Shield.
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