GARY McCULLOCH was left gutted after Sauchie conceded a late equaliser in Wednesday’s clash with Bathgate Thistle.

The Beechwood Park side would have moved to within a victory of promotion had they held on for the win.

However, the 1-1 result means Forfar West End now have the chance to stretch their lead in second to eight points when McCulloch and co travel to Angus tomorrow.

And the midfielder admitted that the weekend game is now crucial in the East Premier promotion battle.

McCulloch told Advertiser Sport: “We are obviously really disappointed not to have got the three points because we want to push on and win the league as soon as we can.

"We weathered the storm at times but although we created a couple of chances ourselves, we couldn’t take them and that’s what cost us in the end.

“I thought the tide had turned after Morgy scored because we had come under a bit of pressure up until the goal. At that point we needed to push on but to be honest, Bathgate did that too and it was a very even game."

He added: “Saturday’s game is the big one for us now because three points for them makes it harder for us to catch them.

It’s not win or bust but we have to go in treating it as a must-win. We need to be professional.

"Things aren’t clicking for us just now so our job is to get back to basics and make sure we do the simple things.”

Sauchie suffered a further blow as Jordan Tapping, Josh Flood and Mark Sharp were all forced off with injury, but McCulloch insisted the impact their replacements made was a plus point from an otherwise frustrating evening.

He said: “We have had a few big losses to injury in recent weeks and losing Tappy, Josh and Sharpy definitely doesn’t help.

"But I thought the boys who came on for them were really good, especially Benn Hutchison, who made a real impact when he came on.

"It just shows how strong a squad we have when we can call on that kind of player from the bench.”

The Juniors are playing catch-up after their Scottish Cup run and poor weather disrupted their winter schedule, and although McCulloch feels their busy period is a tough ask for the players, he insisted that they are fully motivated for the task in hand and are determined to claim the league title.

He added: “We have an incredibly busy schedule between now and the end of the season with two games a week.

"To be honest, training on Monday nights are really just for the guys to come in, stretch off and get ready to go again on Wednesday nights. But the boys are motivated.

"They are obviously a bit down having not beaten Bathgate, but their spirits will be lifted again in time for Saturday.”