SAUCHIE boss Fraser Duncan admitted that a poor start to his side's league campaign could have derailed their entire season.

The manager was forced to make wholesale defensive changes after a nightmare opening few weeks on their return to the Super League which left them mired in the relegation zone.

But now the Juniors have bounced back with a string of good results and are looking to climb clear of danger in the second half of the campaign.

Duncan told Advertiser Sport: "We had a very poor start and there's no getting away from that. We were losing a lot of goals and we tried a few things which didn't work out.

"I had to change it straight away and I think we've managed now to get things settled.

"Stuart Bell, Graeme King and Terry Hewitt have been instrumental in taking us forward. We had to fix the back first and we've managed to do that.

"The thing to work on now is going forward and we've brought in David Grant who will help us out there. I'm quite happy with the squad now and I know that we're now good enough to go and take points off teams in the second half of the season.

"We've got the team to go out and cause problems. Now it's about taking points off teams at the right times and giving ourselves a chance.

"We are going to go out and start looking up the table rather than down and get some points on the board."

The Beechwood Park side will return after the winter break with an away game against the league's surprise package Lochee United, and Duncan says his team face a fight to pick up three vital points.

He said: "Lochee have done really well and surprised a lot of people. They have some very good players and they've strengthened even more in the last couple of weeks.

"But we will go up there and give everything we've got to try and get the three points. If we can keep the goals out, we won't get beaten, but we've got a bit of an attacking edge now. If we use that we've got a chance."

The manager is keen to add a winger to his squad and moved quickly to extend Jason Penman's loan from Kelty Hearts, while he is also monitoring Jordan Orru after he returned to Berwick Rangers.

Duncan added: "The thing we're looking for now is a bit of pace in wide areas. We've extended Jason's loan until the end of January which we are really pleased about.

"We had wanted to do the same with Jordan but we have had to wait until the transfer window opens.

"He's gone back to Berwick and has been involved there, but we'll be in regular contact with him and if the opportunity comes, we would love to bring him back."