Sauchie Juniors…........1
Tranent Juniors......…..2

East of Scotland Premier League
 

SAUCHIE'S hopes of automatic promotion suffered another blow last night as they went down 2-1 at home to Tranent.

A Kayne Paterson double had the visitors cruising at the break but were forced to contend with a dominant Sauchie dominated the second half.

Brian Morgan saw his penalty saved before Martyn Shields’ wonder-goal brought them right back into the game.

However, despite creating a number of chances, the hosts could not find a way through and now face a tough task to climb above Forfar West End and into second spot.

Fraser Duncan’s squad was decimated by injuries and began with a makeshift starting lineup, midfielder Benn Hutchison starting at right-back with Gary McCulloch shifting to centre-half.

The Juniors got off to the worst possible start as they conceded inside four minutes.

There didn’t seem to be too much on when Paterson received the ball midway inside the Sauchie half, but he produced a lovely bit of skill to turn, beat Oliver Fleming and slot the ball beyond Darren Dolan to open the scoring.

That sparked Sauchie into life and Steven Higgins almost produced a carbon copy of Paterson’s goal at the other end, his shot flashing just wide of Murray Jackson’s post.

Higgins was Sauchie’s main outlet and had another chance to get on the scoresheet a couple of minutes later, racing onto Morgan’s through-ball, but Jackson reacted quickly to smother the ball at the striker’s feet.

Tranent were the more dangerous side and Dolan had to show great reflexes to tip Ben Miller’s free kick over the crossbar.

But they would make it two just after the half-hour mark, and again Paterson was the danger man for the visitors.

The striker beat Sauchie’s offside trap, finding himself one on one with Dolan, and made no mistake with his finish as he doubled his tally for the evening.

The home side were desperate to find a route back into the game and had a huge penalty claim turned down when Morgan was hacked to the ground inside the box, the referee waving away the appeals from the men in red.

Sauchie looked much sharper at the start of the second half and Higgins could have dragged his side back into it, just failing to get the ball under control after being played in by Josh Flood.

Flood was then desperately unlucky to see an effort hit the crossbar after a neat passage of play involving Higgins and Andy Shirra.

Shields had an effort hacked off the line as they threw everything at Tranent, before they were given a golden chance to peg back their opponents.

Flood was chopped down as he looked to jink his way into the box, and the referee pointed to the spot. Skipper Morgan stepped up and drilled his spot-kick low, only for Jackson to guess the right way and send the ball round the post.

However, their goal would eventually arrive from the resulting corner.

Flood played it short to David Morrison, who rolled the ball across to Shields, who was arriving late just outside the box. The midfielder unleashed a rocket shot which flashed past Jackson and into the top corner, giving his side a lifeline.

It was all Sauchie by this point but the Juniors were enduring a frustrating time in the final third.

Higgins managed to beat Jackson but having rounded the keeper, found himself with too tight an angle and could only send his shot into the side netting.

The Tranent keeper was having an inspired game and made two good saves inside a minute, first denying Ryan Millar when clean through on goal, before tipping Fleming’s header round the post.

Despite their second-half pressure, Sauchie could not make it count and now face a crucial encounter at home to Tayport on Saturday as they look to get their promotion charge back on track.

Afterwards, manager Fraser Duncan admitted his side were their own worst enemy was particularly disappointed with the goals they lost.

He told Advertiser Sport: "We gave two goals away and in the first half, we made it very difficult for ourselves.

"At half time we had to regroup, and after that we had two or three really good chances, including the penalty, to get ourselves back in the game but we’ve not managed to take them.

"The tempo, work-rate and attitude was much better in the second half.

“We missed the penalty, but these things can happen in football and I certainly won’t be blaming anyone.

"From the corner, Shieldsy has hit a worldy and to be fair, it was going to take something like that to get us back in the game. After that, it was one-way traffic. I think I could have taken Darren Dolan off.”

SAUCHIE: D. Dolan, Hutchison (Millar), Trialist, McCulloch, Fleming, McTaggart, Morgan, Shields, Shirra (Morrison), Flood, Higgins. UNUSED SUBS: S. Dolan, Cummings, Tapping.