SAUCHIE JUNIORS booked a place in the third round of the East of Scotland League Cup after their 2-1 win over Musselburgh Athletic.

Goals from Mikey Cunningham and Mark Smith propelled the Reds into a two-strong lead, with Musselburgh only able to respond once with 20 minutes to go.

Sauchie dug deep and saw out the result, with the club now looking ahead to a third round cup tie against Blackburn United.

Manager Fraser Duncan spoke to the club after the result and shared his delight at making it into the next round.

“Delighted to get through,” he said. “Said to the boys before the game that this meant more to us than it did to them.

“We need to achieve something this season so to do this well in this competition would be good.

“We worked incredibly hard to be honest, the game last week we had the measure of them and I was disappointed to leave with nothing.

“I felt today we just came and went about our business the right way, we did the right things at the right time.

“Some great performances, Scott Davidson back in and had a great performance, worked every single header at the back, him and Jack Thomson.”

Alongside the praise for the back line, Duncan hailed the performances of the goal scorers, whose work rate has been a point of note for the gaffer.

“Great to see Cunningham getting a goal today, Mikey’s came in and worked really hard, Mark Smith as well.

“We kind of changed the way Mark played at half-time, had a chat and told him we wanted to play him a bit deeper just to keep him away from the centre halves and it worked.

“We found a lot more space in the second half and I think if you look at overall today, we deserved to win the game.

“The boys have really got to be proud today. Special mention in the second half, performance wise for Sean Robertson.

“He’s come out and had five or six really hard crosses into the box from Musselburgh today which were very direct and his handling was outstanding.

“It was a good chance to rest Danny Smith, he wasn’t taking a chance on a knock. It’s a real hard working squad and they deserve their plaudits and praise, they definitely get that from me.

“The support again was magnificent, happy to give something for them to cheer about heading home and thanks for their support.”

Sauchie will now play Blackburn United in the third round on Saturday, April 20.