Sauchie boss Fraser Duncan has heaped praise on his battling stars after their 1-0 win over Carnoustie Panmure at Beechwood Park last weekend.

The Clackmannanshire outfit now have two wins from their opening five games after an up and down start to their McBookie.com East Super League campaign.

And the gaffer reckons his squad have to perform beyond their expectations in the same way as neighbours Alloa Athletic have to do in the SPFL Championship this season.

The former Ipswich Town trainee now wants his men to take the momentum from their win into their next game as they begin the defence of the East of Scotland Cup this weekend with a tough trip to face Whitburn.

Duncan told Advertiser sport, “I think we thoroughly deserved the points and we could have made it an easier afternoon for ourselves with some of the chances we had. We now need to take the performance into this weekend and it is good to get a break from the league to begin the defence of our East of Scotland Cup.

“We will look to go and show some pride in being the holders and look to defend our trophy. Whitburn will be a tough game for us because they have always been a difficult side through the years. I think they have been through a tough spell recently but they have a new manager and I am sure they will be hungry to advantage of a one-off cup game.

“My lads have shown me a bit of fight and honour about wanting to keep hold of this trophy so hopefully they can take that into Saturday. We are desperate to stay in the cups past Christmas and so this one is vital for us. It seems the way this year that we are going to have to scrap for every point we get this year.

“There is a lot of similiarities between ourselves and Alloa Athletic because we are punching slightly above our weight so we just have to go and fight for everything we can get. When we saw our first five league games we knew the Musselburgh and Carnoustie games would be vital ones where we would need to take something from.

“So I am delighted that we have then managed to take the maximum six points from those games. We have climbed the table away from the relegation zone and we want to build on this confidence going forward to help us continue to climb the table further.” Duncan was also full of praise for his defence after losing two key players before the game in that area of the pitch but reckons the team must try to take the pressure off of their two talismen, Darren Cummings and Brian Morgan, who once again proved to be match winners for Sauchie.

He said, “I almost took Cummings off again just before his flash of brilliance to create the goal so I was glad he popped up when he did. Daz can give us a lot more in games though and he knows that himself but I am sure it will come. We have been laying the pressure on Daz and Brian Morgan too much in recent times and that’s not fair.

“We need to all start stepping up as a team to help try and alleviate that. It is still good the way the lads dugout the victory especially after missing some early chances and I thought the lads at the back were superb.

“We were missing two big players in there with Kingy and Jinky both out injured but I thought Jon Tully and Steven Dolan stepped up to the mark and were excellent for us.” The 31-year-old boss is delighted to have finally landed a new striker but admits he would still like two or three more to complete his squad.

Duncan added, “We are delighted to sign Kenny Martin from Fauldhouse and he is a striker that we have been crying out for to add competition for places into the squad. We are also looking to bring in a few more players on loan and hopefully we have something to announce this week.”