GIVEN David Cross is now onto his fourth managerial team in a little over a year in the Wee County, there's perhaps few better placed to assess the new men at the Sauchie helm.

The defender, who was initially brought to the Reds by former manager Iain Diack, has been through it all in recent months, from Martin Mooney's short-lived reign, to the stewardship of rookie caretakers Darren Cummings and Darren Petrie.

It's little wonder Sauchie's season looked in danger of falling by the wayside, but things are looking for more secure since club legends Fraser Duncan and Davie Beaton returned to steady the ship.

The management duo have steered the Reds off the foot of the Premier Division table and secured back-to-back home wins with victory over Musselburgh Athletic on Saturday.

"We maybe wouldn't had that result in us before but since Fras has come in he has built that mentality and that belief," Cross, 24, told Advertiser Sport.

"He's got a presence and just seems to be able to get everyone to work hard for him which nobody seemed to manage before.

"Obviously, it is not a turnaround quite yet and we are still a work in progress but he has got us all turning up to training and working as hard as we can.

"The addition of a couple of experienced heads has helped us before as before we were maybe a team who could just play pretty football.

"Bringing in guys like Jon Tully and Alan Comrie and just having them around the training pitch is really rubbing off on all of us.

"From the start of the season until now I feel a difference in my own performances. I don't know why, but just at the start we weren't doing the right things.

"But since Fras and Davie Beaton have come in things have just started to tick."

Goals from Stevie Dolan and Jon Tully helped the Reds leapfrog Musselburgh in the race to avoid the relegation trap door and Cross believes Tully's calming presence at the back was critical in securing the three points.

He said: "We've pretty much been at the bottom of the league since the start of the season, so it's just a massive relief for everybody.

"You could tell in the changing room after how happy we were to be off the bottom of the league.

"The teams around us might have games in hand but they are difficult games when you look at them and all we can do is concentrate on yourself."

He added: "Jon is an older figure who knows the game in and out and he talks to everyone throughout the game.

"He has settled boys down, especially when things are not going our way.

"When we conceded the equaliser on Saturday, that could have been a time when we just collapsed but he helped us through that difficult spell."