Sauchie...........................1

Bonnyrigg Rose.............5

East of Scotland, Conference B

IF SAUCHIE were in any doubt about the superiority of Bonnyrigg Rose, then another demolition at their hands will have convinced the sceptics.

The Midlothian outfit dominate the league table and increasingly look like securing the East of Scotland Conference B at a canter.

On an utterly miserable day in Clackmannanshire, they made a mockery of Sauchie’s usually solid home form in a one-sided 90 minutes that always threatened to turn into a rout.

All the talk before the game had been of Sauchie’s desire to put things right after their terrible day in December; how they will now wish they had a third chance to prove how good they really are.

Sauchie had kept Bonnyrigg at bay for 45 minutes in the reverse fixture. This time, their resistance lasted barely five minutes.

The dangerously high backline had already been warned before but this was not heeded as Bonnyrigg once again got in behind and Kieran McGachie nodded home.

The Rose pounced on another slack bit of defending to make it two less than five minutes later. No one tracked the short ball from a corner and a deep delivery looked to be heading wide before it was powered home at the back post by Dean Hoskins.

It was a miserable start to compound what turned out to be a miserable day in Clackmannanshire.

Even before the scoring started, the first body blow of the day was landed on the Reds.

In the face of Iain Diack's positivity during the week, a number of key players had failed to return to fitness in time

Such was the shortage of numbers, Diack was forced to name himself among the three substitutes available.

Despite the lack of numbers, it will have been the manner of the defeat that will have most disappointed Diack. Time and time again, Bonnyrigg got in behind the Sauchie backline with ease.

Add to this the Reds’ inability to hold onto the ball all over the pitch, and this was less of a gulf and more a chasm between the sides.

Two became three when a miscued Darren Dolan clearance landed at the feet of Lee Currie, who was given the time to pick his spot and lob the keeper from all of thirty yards.

Not even halfway into the first half and it was clear this was all about restoring some pride for the home side.

The first glimmers of pride nearly arrived on the back of Sauchie’s best move of the day. A lovely interchange between Conor Langton and Ryan Millar saw the latter play the ball to Ross Crawford, who forced a sharp double save from Bryan Young.

Dolan may have been at fault for the third, but produced a miraculous save to maintain the slimmer of hope Sauchie had of a comeback.

A floated cross was powered towards goal by McGachie only for Dolan to get a strong hand to it. This seemed to be just a momentary release as the Bonnyrigg winger pounced on the loose ball, but somehow Dolan found the determination to block.

Ultimately, the Sauchie resilience was broken once again as the Rose got their much deserved fourth on the hour mark.

Stewart Houston slipped when he tried to clear a cutback and Dean Brett showed no mercy as he thundered it past a helpless Dolan.

Dolan’s day was soon ended due to an injury, but it wasn’t long until his replacement had to pick the ball out of the net as the Rose refused to let up.

Poor Aidan McKeown was the unfortunate scorer as he inadvertently tapped a dangerous ball past Cameron Cairney.

David Cross’ penalty – a thunderous effort into the top corner – restored a tiny bit of pride for Sauchie but the game was already long gone by then.