AN EARLY goal was the difference between Sauchie Juniors and Musselburgh, on a day where there wasn’t much between the sides.

The Reds visited the league leaders in East Lothian looking to build on last week’s 3-2 win over Dunbar.

The hosts would decide the tie, however, grabbing an early goal as Sauchie switched off at the back post.

Despite a resolute second half showing from Sauchie, that would prove to be the only goal of the contest, with Musselburgh seeing out a 1-0 win on home turf.

“It was a good competitive game,” Fraser Duncan said. “It was a hard one to take in the end, I felt we deserved to take something from the game.

“It was always going to be a tough one going up against the league leaders but we acquitted ourselves well.

“We gave away a poor goal early on, we’ve not picked it up at the back post and let their striker get in front of us and scored.

“After they’ve scored, Musselburgh shut up shop and were kind of hanging on for the rest of the game.

“We played some good stuff especially in the second half but we couldn’t get that goal or wee bit of luck to break them open.”

Sauchie had chances of their own while also consigning Musselburgh to few opportunities to double their lead.

The visitors rattled the post once, while the Musselburgh keeper would pull off a couple of impressive saves to deny Sauchie’s forward line.

Duncan continued: “Once they scored the goal, they maybe had one or two chances after that from long throw ins but that was about it.

“In the second half, we were camped up in their half and our boys really upped it in the second half and had some really good chances.

“We just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net which is the hardest bit about it but these things can happen.

“It’s not a great surface at Musselburgh and they’re resilient, they work very well as a team and they made it difficult for us to try and get anything from the game.”

A positive from Saturday’s outing is that four of Sauchie’s newest signings continue to impress.

Josh Gemmell, Euan Griffiths, Finn Malcolm and Paul Simpson all started this week’s game following impressive debuts the weekend before and did not disappoint.

Duncan added: “The four guys played on Saturday and just like the week before, they were excellent.

“Euan Griffiths has come in and he controls that midfield, that’s exactly what we needed at the minute.

“He controls the game and is good on the ball – nice, simple and effective.

“The other three going forward – Paul on the right hand side, Josh on the left hand side are electric and very good on the ball.

“They put balls into the box and they always look to get on the ball. Finn Malcolm up front has been excellent for us, his hold up play and he works very hard and is quick.

“The four have made a massive difference for us.”