SAUCHIE midfielder Darren Petrie believes the side’s extra time win over Dalbeattie Star could be the start of an upturn in form.

The Beachwood Park club had lost the last two games thanks to injury time goals and had been warned to learn their lessons ahead of the cup tie in the borders.

And following Ryan Millar’s late winner, Petrie insisted the side could take plenty of encouragement from the win over the Lowland League side.

The 23-year-old told Advertiser Sport: “We obviously expected quite a tough game given the standard of the league they are in, but we did really well - even with the gaffer in goals.

“We started off really well, but then shot ourselves in the foot with a mistake that led to their equaliser and let them back into the game.

“However, we did feel pretty comfortable throughout and they never created too much and we had more of the clear cut chances and the goal at the end had been coming.

“But, credit to all the boys and I think we needed a result after the last few weeks and hopefully this can kick start an upturn in form.”

Petrie was full of praise for boss Iain Diack who was forced to play in goals on Saturday after a late replacement for holiday bound Darren Dolan who pulled out at the last minute.

Despite the last few disappointing results, the former Stirling Albion midfielder revealed Diack had been full of encouragement for the side.

Petrie added: “The gaffer said to us that we’ve not had a bad performance yet and silly little goals have ruined our game since the start.

“We’ve got a few tough games coming up with St Andrews on Saturday and then Tyncastle the weekend after.

“A lot of the boys played 120 minutes on Saturday and I imagine there will be a lot of boys who will still be sore come training on Tuesday.”

Petrie faces an anxious wait ahead of an SFA hearing following his dismissal for off the ball remarks in Sauchie’s game against Tranent in August.

The midfielder could be handed a lengthy suspension by Scottish football chiefs, but he remains hopeful that he will soon be able to move on from the incident.

He continued: “I might be able to play or I might get a six game ban. We’ll just see what happens.”