SAUCHIE star Ant McTaggart labelled the 5-0 defeat to Lochee in the Super League East Relegation Playoff first leg as one of his worst ever nights in football.

The midfield maestro was gutted with the entire side’s performance as the humbling defeat all but consigned them to relegation to the Premier League next season.

Darren Cummings saw red inside ten minutes shortly after Lochee’s opening goal and his young team mate reckons it was an uphill battle from there on in.

McTaggart told Advertiser Sport: “I can’t think of many worse nights I have had in football and we are all absolutely devastated. I didn’t think they were that good of a side, but we played right into their hands by trying to attack all the time. We could maybe have shut up shop after the sending off and tried to keep ourselves in the tie, but it just wasn’t to be.

“The sending off was a moment of madness and it changes the game and makes life difficult for us. I think Daz knows himself he let the team down, but it is gone now and we just have to some how try to move on and rebuild. I thought we did well after we went down to ten men and we were well in the game.

“If the penalty goes in then I think it would have completely changed the game, but to be fair to Morri I don’t think he could have caught it any sweeter, it just wasn’t to be for us. There is no excuses we can give, at the end of the day we have just got to take it on the chin and try to look to next season. We are all gutted, but we have let the club and the supporters down.”

McTaggart is well aware that the Beechwood Park outfit will almost need some divine intervention to turn the tie around in Dundee on Wednesday night, but he insists they will go there to try to save some pride at the very least.

Gaffer Fraser Duncan admitted after the match that his own future is up in the air with the club’s likely relegation, but the Under 21 graduate reckons the boss is still the right man to help rebuild the club next season.

He said: “I think the manager will be keen to make changes in the summer now, I can see there being a number of changes at the club, but hopefully the manager will stick around to help us rebuild because I still have full faith in him that he is the best man for the job.

“The second leg is not impossible, but there is no doubting it would take a minor miracle for us to pull it out the bag now. We have to go to Lochee with hope and try to save face a little bit, but there is not much we can do to turn around a five goal deficit.

“You never know what can happen if we can go up there and get a couple of early goals, but at the very least we need to go and try to win back some pride because the first leg performance and effort was absolutely brutal.”

The young midfielder has enjoyed a terrific season on a personal level and has caught the eye with some brilliant standout performances throughout a difficult season for the club and he admits he was humbled to be awarded the Advertiser Sport Sauchie Player of the Year award.

McTaggart added: “I was buzzing to lift the Advertiser sport player of the year award because I really didn’t expect it. I have been working really hard on my own as well as with the guys in training so it is nice to get the recognition for all that effort. I was disappointed to miss three months through injury, but hopefully I can make up for lost time next season.”