Sauchie Juniors.........................3

Camelon Juniors.......................1

Scottish Junior Cup, third round

SAUCHIE Juniors booked their place in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup with a fine victory over local rivals Camelon.

Captain Brian Morgan got the Beechwood Park side off to the perfect start with a sensational strike, before Alan Docherty equalised for the visitors.

However, after half time Sauchie found another gear and Craig Comrie did his best to match Morgan with a stunning strike of his own, before Darren Cummings came off the bench to make the result safe.

New signing David Grant made his Sauchie debut from the start against his former employers, while Mariners winger Ryan Kane was also returning to the side he played for briefly at the start of last season.

The tie was the sides' first game in a month after four postponements during the recent cold snap, but Sauchie showed no signs of rustiness in the opening stages.

Ant McTaggart was industrious out on the right and worked hard to make space for a cross, which Morgan headed into the arms of Dean Shaw.

Kane and team-mate Lewis Small both had half-chances but neither seriously tested Darren Dolan in the Sauchie goal.

But there was nothing the visitors' backline could do about the opening goal. David Morrison picked the ball up on the left and laid it inside to Morgan.

He shifted it onto his right foot and unleashed a dipping, swerving rocket of a shot which crashed home off the underside of the crossbar.

That sparked jubilant scenes among the bumper crowd packed into Beechwood Park, but they were silenced moments later when Camelon hit back immediately.

Craig Donaldson broke down the left and looped in a cross for the towering Docherty. The big striker was unmarked in the middle and it was a relatively simple task for him to flick his header beyond the helpless Dolan and into the net.

The goal gave the Mariners a lift and they almost had a second before the break when Small evaded the attentions of the Sauchie defence and ghosted in at the front post to meet a cross, but he couldn't get enough on the ball to send it on target.

The home side grew back into the game and Morgan, keen to prove his opener was no fluke, tried his luck from a free kick, and the gamble almost paid off as the ball flew inches over the bar.

Dolan was called into action to deny Small as the first half drew to a close, the keeper getting down smartly to keep out the ex-Falkirk striker's low shot.

Sauchie were back on top in the opening moments of the second half and made their pressure tell when they took the lead for a second time. A corner was headed out to the edge of the box and Comrie took a chance, lashing a volley beyond the despairing Shaw to restore the home side's advantage.

Full-back Mark Sharp was forced off with a nasty facial injury picked up as he attempted to head a bouncing ball away, with Stewart Houston replacing him on the right side of the back four.

The hosts were adamant they should have had a penalty when McTaggart's cross appeared to strike a blue-clad arm in the box, but referee Scott Lambie would have had to be the beneficiary of x-ray vision to award it given the number of bodies between him and the incident.

As the game became more stretched McTaggart got a lot more joy on the right flank. He had Shaw scrambling when when he cut inside and tried his luck, but the midfielder's shot curled just wide.

Camelon threw on Alan Sneddon in a bid to rescue the tie and he called Dolan into action twice in the space of a few minutes, the big stopper making two fine saves to preserve Sauchie's lead.

Conor Kelly thought he had added a third for the home side when he prodded a loose ball home in the box, but the striker was flagged offside in the build-up.

It had been a scrappy game with some bad-tempered moments but things really threatened to boil over when McTaggart flew into a challenge, prompting an angry reaction from the Camelon players. However, after a spot of handbags, the referee managed to diffuse the situation.

Sauchie boss Fraser Duncan introduced Cummings in an effort to make the tie safe and the decision paid dividends immediately.

He cut in off the left and worked his way into the box before clipping the ball beyond the reach of Shaw and into the bottom corner to all-but secure his side's place in the competition.

The visitors' frustration began to get the better of them as they chased the game, and skipper John Millar was shown a second yellow card for hacking down Morgan in the dying seconds.

Camelon offered little by way of a threat once Sauchie's two-goal lead was established, and the home side held on comfortably to record a valuable win and set up a trip to Bellshill Athletic in round four.

SAUCHIE D. Dolan, Sharp (Houston), Syme, King, Hewitt, Comrie, McTaggart (Penman), Morgan, Kelly (Cummings), Grant, Morrison. UNUSED SUBS: S. Dolan.