THE dugouts at Beechwood Park might not be warm and there's no Jeff Stelling on the telly, but Davie Beaton can't think of anywhere he'd rather be spending his Saturdays.

Alloa legend Beaton didn't have to think twice about swapping the couch and the Soccer Saturday gang for the chance to link up again with Fraser Duncan in a bid to save Sauchie's season when his old mate sent him an SOS call last month.

The scale of the challenge was never lost on either men with the club languishing bottom of the Premier Division table and seemingly a lost cause; but, crucially, not to those at the heart of the club.

The Reds secured their first league win of the season – after their Whitehill Welfare victory was effectively lost due to a points deduction – over Broxburn Athletic on Saturday and Beaton's influence both on the pitch and off it was clear to see.

Duncan has already signalled his desire for Darren Cummings and Darren Petrie to feed off Beaton with a view to potentially taking over the running of the club one day and it is just one of the ways the former defender is changing the mood at Beechwood.

"The boys have been great and everyone associated with the club have always been great to me," the 52-year-old told Advertiser Sport. "I now don't sit in the house on a Saturday afternoon watching the scores, so I am back into it.

"It is great to be back and to give the guys a hand and hopefully I can influence things with Fraser and the rest of the coaching team.

"Both of the Darrens are really good guys and keen as anything. You want guys who are keen and willing to work hard and the players are buying into that.

"If you get that application from the coaches, then it will rub off on the team."

Beaton got his wish on Saturday as Sauchie outfought high flying Broxburn in a 3-0 win to end their Beechwood Park hoodoo and spark their survival fight back to life.

Goals from Jordan Wright, Simon White, and returning defender Jon Tully were enough to seal the surprise win over a team who put three past League Two side Cowdenbeath and five into Newtongrange Star's net last week.

While it would be easy to assume Steve Hislop's team underestimated Sauchie – and there was definitely an element of that – Beaton was only focused on the positives from his side's display.

"There could be an element of that (underestimating the challenge of Sauchie)," he continued. "They might have come to Beechwood Park thinking it was going to be a banking three points for them.

"We just want to the team to put the effort in and the application in to give themselves a chance.

"It doesn't matter if a team plays better than you or does certain things better than you, then that happens.

"But, if you stick to your game plan then you have a chance and that's what we try to instil into the boys. To work for each other and to work hard."

He added: "Big Jon Tully came back in and he was solid and won every header. The whole back four worked really well as a unit and that is something we have worked hard to instil."

The challenge doesn't get any easier for Beaton and Duncan as they welcome Musselburgh Athletic, one place and a single point above the Reds, to Beechwood Park this weekend.

Beaton said: "It is really vital we have a good week of training and work on shape and the things we have been doing well to prepare ourselves for Saturday."