FRASER DUNCAN admitted his players had to show the strength of their character after they battled back from two goals behind to claim a valuable draw with Newtongrange Star.

His Sauchie side were the victims of a contentious penalty decision in the opening minutes, and the home team went on to add a second before two penalties of their own saw the Juniors take a point.

And the manager revealed that despite his satisfaction at his players' fightback, he was slightly disappointed not to travel back to the Wee County with three points in the bag.

Duncan told Advertiser Sport: "We went into the game feeling confident but in the first few minutes, the referee has given them a penalty which is never a penalty in a million years.

"Ryan Millar hasn't even stuck out his leg – the player has kicked him and gone over, and to be honest he's played it really well to win the penalty.

"We didn't help ourselves – the defending for the second goal was really poor.

"At 2-0 down we had to show a lot of character to get back into the game, and we did well to get it back to 2-1 before half time. We had a chat about what we needed to do to hurt them and we did that very well in the second half.

"Newtongrange had a spell of ten minutes or so where they could have nicked another goal, but over the piece the draw was fair.

"If anything I'm a bit disappointed that we've not come away with three points, but if I'm being honest the draw was fair. Now it's up to us to build on that."

Duncan is now desperate for his players to carry the momentum from that display into Saturday's Super League clash with Forfar West End, and the manager says his side are out for revenge after losing to the men from Angus twice last season.

He said: "The Forfar game is a must-win for us. They're sitting at the bottom of the table without a win so the most important thing for me is to make sure they don't come to Beechwood and get one.

"They did the double over us last year so that's definitely something we're looking to get revenge for. We will be well up for it on Saturday."

The Sauchie boss has been busy in the transfer market, adding former Stirling Albion midfielder Craig Comrie, as well as utility player Lee Dawson.

Meanwhile, Sean Preston, Taylor Gordon and Scott Hynd have all left the club.

Duncan added: "Craig has come in and he's got a lot of quality about him. Lee knows he was brought in primarily as cover but there will be games where he's needed. It's a case of giving him a chance.

"Sean Preston, Taylor Gordon and Scott Hynd have all left. It's been a mutual decision to terminate their contracts."