FRASER DUNCAN blasted Sauchie's Hill of Beath humiliation as "one of the worst defeats" in his time at the club.

The Reds suffered their heaviest loss of the season as they ended the decade with a 6-1 drubbing at the home of the Haws on Saturday.

An encouraging start and a Mark Mooney opener looked to have Sauchie on their way to an important three points, only for Duncan's struggling Wee County outfit to be hit for six.

Things were compounded by a win for relegation rivals Musselburgh Athletic and the Reds now face an increasingly uphill task to secure their Premier Division safety.

"The boys deserve absolutely no credit after the game," Duncan told Advertiser Sport. "We told them that they've embarrassed me, Davie Beaton, the Darrens (Cummings and Petrie), and the fans of the club.

"There is only one group of people who can take that embarrassment and make it up to the club.

"There is no pressure on me as a manager and no pressure on Davie or the whole management team.

"The pressure is on the players as it is this group of players who have gotten us into the position we are in.

"It's a bit of a rude awakening for them and it is up to them to step up. But, if they are not going to step up then I will do whatever it takes to get rid of them.

"It's probably right up there during my time at the club with the 10-0 loss to Lochee in the play-off. That was over two legs.

"Do you want to bounce back? If you don't, continue what you are doing and I can assure you you will not be here at this club.

"If I can keep Sauchie in this league it will be like winning a league title."

Duncan added: "Defensively, we were shocking, but I wouldn't just blame the back four as we made mistakes all over the pitch. We were bossed all over the pitch.

"But, you need to give Hill of Beath credit who were better than us. Would they have beaten a Sauchie team of four years ago? No, they wouldn't be able to get anywhere near us.

"These are different days now and we've got to fix that."

A first goal for Mooney since making the switch to Beechwood Park was one of the few positives from the game.

But, Duncan again reiterated his desire to add extra firepower to his frontline ahead of crucial clashes with Dundonald Bluebell, Crossgate Primrose, and Jeanfield Swifts.

Duncan said: "We still badly need a striker and that's our main objective over the next couple of weeks. We need to bring in a penalty box striker.

"We are trying our very best but we are getting stuck because teams are still in the Scottish Cup and all of these sorts of things. It's proving very hard but we are not going to stop trying."