FRASER DUNCAN heaped praise on his Sauchie Juniors players after their heroic 3-1 win against title contenders Linlithgow Rose pushed them to the brink of safety in the Super League East.

The Wee County side’s shock win was down to the team’s spirit and will to win according to the manager and he hopes it is something they can now maintain into next season.

The gaffer was delighted to see the return of influential midfielder Ant McTaggart last weekend, but admits he is proud of the way every single player in red and white ran their socks off to achieve the stunning victory.

Duncan told Advertiser sport: “It was a classic David vs Goliath moment. We were struggling so badly for bodies that I was on the bench myself and we only had 12 players. We just went for it as a result of that and I cannot fault the players for their effort and desire right from the first whistle to the last. We scored some great goals and right throughout the team we just delivered a superb performance. I am just delighted with the result and hopefully it is enough for us now.

“It was great to have Ant McTaggart back in the side for us and I think he made a big difference. He has been a real miss because of his drive and energy, and he certainly produced that last Saturday. From the defence right through to attack though every single player was outstanding. Special mention to Jon Tully, Gary McCulloch and the rest of the back four because to cope with that front three that they have to an unbelievable effort and they were outstanding. I can’t fault anyone.

“As a team if we had performed like that week in and week out then we would be at the top of the table not the bottom, but the good thing not is we can start looking towards putting things right next season. I think we got an inspired performance from the skipper. Morgy just had that desire from the opening minute and you could see he just wanted the three points desperately. ”

Sauchie now face a trip to rivals Camelon in their final league tie of the season on Wednesday evening and Duncan reckons it is a chance to settle an old score as well as securing their own fate.

He said: “We finish our league campaign at Camelon and if we can go and get the result then we can secure our status that allows us to prepare for next season, so that’s the aim. It is going to take a miracle for the teams below to catch us now, but while we have our fate in our owns hands it is important that we just go out against Camelon and look to make sure of it.

“There is obviously a real rivalry between ourselves and Camelon, and I think we are due them one for the cup final loss last season as well as the defeat at the start of the season. So that will have our boys fired up and ready to go. They’re not going through the best of spells at the moment so we have to take advantage of that. If we go and beat them then they could easily get drawn into the relegation mire.”

The 32-year-old boss is still determined to ring the changes in the summer and hopes to expand the numbers in his squad for next term after finding themselves short on a number of occasions throughout this season.

Duncan added: “I still think we need a bit of a rejig in the summer. We will need to run with a bigger squad next season because we went with 16 this year and have been really short all year. I have had some meetings with the board who are ready to back me again in the summer so that gives us the chance to kick on. Our recruitment is vital now and ideally we can move quickly to secure some fresh blood.”