SAUCHIE gaffer Fraser Duncan has said the team’s poor start to the season is a cause for concern.

Speaking before the league campaign started, Duncan had high hopes for the season.

However, with three defeats in the opening three games, he finds his team in a hole they must climb out of as soon as possible.

He told Advertiser Sport: “It’s a difficult one because I feel, at the start of the season, you have these expectations about what you’re going to do. We went out against Dunbar [United], I feel like we’re the better team on paper but Dunbar looked like they wanted it more and thoroughly deserved the three points.

“We then came up against a decent Musselburgh side but, again, chances. We had chances to go and win the game, and we just haven’t done it. We haven’t taken our chances, things aren’t falling for us and we say every year we’re slow starters.

“The stop-start pre-season hasn’t helped us, it’s been a nightmare but everybody’s been in the same boat so we can’t blame that because everyone else seems to have started off alright.

“The league’s very unpredictable, you don’t know what team you’re going to be playing week in, week out, you don’t know who will turn up. Teams can improve at the drop of a hat and we’ve got to start improving.”

Clearly, the result that frustrated Duncan the most was against Tynecastle on Saturday.

He continued: “We’ve went through to [play] Tynecastle and we dominated the game for 90 minutes and got beat 3-2. You can’t be doing that, it just doesn’t work.

"They got their chances and took them, we didn’t. We missed a penalty, with 10 minutes to go. I think if we score that we go on and win the game. Totally disappointing.

"It’s one of them where I’m sitting at the start of the season looking at the first three games thinking if we can get six points we’ll be laughing. And we’ve ended up getting none."

He added: "I feel like injuries are playing their part. That’s probably down to us, we’ve got some older guys and guys carrying knocks.

"There’s a couple on holiday, there’s a couple isolating. It’s a nightmare. It’s not a disaster, but it’s not very good.”

Duncan admits it may be time for a harsh assessment of both the squad and his own management team.

He continued: “It’s a cause for concern because we don’t seem to have the personnel to drag us out this mess. If we don’t, we need to add the personnel but looking around the dressing room I’m confident enough we’ve got the players to do that.

“I’m not going to blame just the players, it’s obviously right through. I pick the players, if it’s not right that way then maybe it’s something I’m doing so I’ve got to evaluate my performance and the coaching staff’s performances as well.”

Despite the results, there is one player who has done more than impress Duncan.

“The one pleasing point is Scott Davidson,” he said. “He’s been absolutely outstanding since he came in.

"As a new signing he’s been absolutely different class; he’s been doing very well for us, working hard and dominating games.

"If I’m being honest, in our opening games Scott’s been our best player and not by a little bit, by a country mile.”

Sauchie will play Blackburn United at Beechwood tomorrow night (Tues) and face Linlithgow Rose at home on Saturday.