A GAME of two halves saw Sauchie Juniors take a three goal lead into the break before being pegged back twice by Glenrothes.
The Reds hosted the Fife side at Beechwood and a commanding start saw Brian Morgan fire his team in front.
Conor Kelly doubled Sauchie’s lead before Tom Harrison added a third before half-time.
It was plain sailing for Jon Tully’s side, who remarked that the first half couldn’t have gone any better.
“We had control of the first half,” Tully said. “We didn’t really give much away, we were assured, organised, quite clinical.
“We spoke before the game about consistency and seeing teams off and we felt in the first half everything went to the game plan.
“We were pleased at half time and everybody was happy, things just fell our way, got a bit of luck when we needed it and had some good play in the first half.”
Glenrothes came out the break hungry to try and claw their way back into the proceedings.
The visitors reduced the deficit by one on the hour mark, with Sauchie having to do more defending than they had to do in the first half.
The Beechwood outfit held on and, despite Glenrothes scoring a second at the death to make for a squeaky end, secured all three points.
Tully continued: “We spoke at half time and said to try and keep the intensity up, the same work rate up.
“At 3-0 up and feeling like we’re in control, it’s natural human nature to ease off a bit.
“Glenrothes would’ve had a rollicking at half time, they came out a wee bit to have something to prove.
“We still created chances in the second half but we weren’t as quite as assured as we were in the first half.
“We always knew they’d come out flying a wee bit and put some pressure on us, we felt both the goals were avoidable but that’s football.
“If you switch off for half a second, you get punished.”
Despite a second half switch off, Tully remained pleased with the result, hailing his team’s mentality in ensuring they didn’t lose the points.
He added: “Previously, the team this season when we’ve been in control – the Tynecastle game when we’ve been 2-0 up and then drawn 3-3 - we’ve shown recently that we’ve lost that mentality like that.
“We’re strong enough now that when we do step off the gas and are put under pressure, we’re confident enough that the guys will see it through.”
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