SAUCHIE favourite Darren Cummings is desperate to put this season behind him after a torrid time on and off the pitch this term.

The striker started the season at Bo'ness United and after enduring a horrendous spell out of favour there, his return to Beechwood Park has since been hampered by injury.

Despite completing his first 90 minutes in almost two and a half months last weekend, the fans' favourite admits he is still a long way from peak fitness.

Cummings told Advertiser sport: “ It has been a miserable time for me since I have returned to the club because I only got a handful of games before I picked up the injury and it really has just summed up my whole season. I had a terrible time at Bo'ness and Saturday was my first game in two and a half months so it has been a rubbish season for me. The match sharpness is just not there for me though and I cannot wait to write this season off and start again fresh next year. Hopefully it will be in this league as well because I really dont fancy the prospect of dropping into the league below. Any game time now is just going to be a bonus for me from now until the end of the season and I am just really looking to avoid any injuries then get a good pre-season under my belt.”

Cummings admits the league table does not make for good reading write now and they still have a job on their hands to stay out of trouble at the foot of the Super League East.

The talented hitman reckons Saturday's 2-0 loss to high-flying Bonnyrigg Rose was simply down to their superior squad depth.

He said: “It is a scary prospect for us looking at the league table with us only having four games left and most of the teams below us having so many games in hand. We are up against it if you think that some of the teams below us have five or six games at least in hand on us. We have four games to save our season and I think we need six or seven points to secure our place in the league next season. We have two massive games coming up now starting with Carnoustie on Saturday and this is the type of game that we will have to take maximum points from. We will rally round though and I am confident we will get the necessary points to get out of this horrible situation.

“I felt we did well in the first half against Bonnyrigg. You wouldn't have been able to tell who was the side at the top and who was at the bottom based on the first half, but we simply don't have the same strength in depth as them and the power of their squad won through for them in the end as we ran out of legs.”

Sauchie have been without key midfield duo Brian Morgan and David Morrison in recent weeks and the 31-year-old hitman reckons their imminent return could be a huge boost.

Cummings added: “Morgy and Morri have been a massive miss for us recently and so if we could get them both back for the run-in it would be a huge boost for all the boys. It might also just give one or two the motivation they need to kick themselves on.”