Vale of Leithen boss Grant Sandison signs two midfielders from former club Penicuik Athletic

Vale of Leithen boss Grant Sandison has raided former club Penicuik Athletic to sign midfielders Jack Furness and Chris Finnie.
Vale of Leithen manager Grant Sandison has bolstered his squad. Picture: Alan MurrayVale of Leithen manager Grant Sandison has bolstered his squad. Picture: Alan Murray
Vale of Leithen manager Grant Sandison has bolstered his squad. Picture: Alan Murray

Sandison, who took over at Vale in October after leaving a coaching role at Penicuik under-20s, was attempting to finalise deals on Wednesday, with both players likely to be in contention for a starting berth in this Saturday’s Lowland League game at Spartans.

He said: “Both the deals should be done before Saturday. Furness comes in on loan until the end of the season and Finnie is a permanent transfer until the end of the season.

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“Those lads will give us a bit of bite in the middle of the park, a bit of energy in there.

“They are both good footballers who are comfortable on the ball.

“One thing I felt we’d struggled with this season was keeping the ball when we’re trying to build up an attack. We’ve been giving the ball away far too much, so they’ll help us in that way, by getting on the ball and trying to make things happen.

“All going well, depending on how they train on Thursday, there is a good chance both of them will go straight into the squad for Spartans.”

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Vale go into that match six points adrift of second-bottom Gretna 2008, having had their scheduled home league fixture against Berwick Rangers last Saturday postponed after seven of Sandison’s players tested positive for coronavirus.

“The game would have been off anyway as the pitch was frozen,” he said.

All seven players will be available this weekend if they test negative after seven days of self-isolation.

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