SCOTT BONAR hailed the “outstanding mentality” of his side as they narrowly lost out on silverware to Sauchie Juniors, losing 3-2 after extra time.

Haddington Athletic travelled to Denny on Saturday for the East of Scotland League Cup final clash against the Clackmannanshire outfit.

The Millfield men got off to a dream start as Lucas McGarry fired Haddington ahead from a corner just eight minutes in.

Sauchie grew into the game though and had Haddington on the ropes for the remainder of the first half, with Jack Docherty turning the tides with a quickfire double to put Sauchie front.

Both sides chased a goal in the second half – Haddington looking to draw things level and Sauchie aiming to kill the tie off.

It looked bleak for a moment for Haddington just past the hour mark as Sauchie had the ball in the net, before the offside flag went up.

Haddington pulled off some miraculous goal line clearances to keep Sauchie out, before a moment of quality from Corey Robertson would send the final to extra time with the scores tied at 2-2.

A cross sent in to Sauchie’s box was poorly cleared, falling into the path of Robertson who fired into the top corner at the death.

Extra time was a rather tentative affair, but the tie – and the trophy – was decided by a Brian Morgan header for the Clackmannanshire outfit.

Speaking to Courier Sport after the game, manager Bonar said he would take plenty of positives from a rallying performance.

“I went through every emotion today,” Bonar said.

“That showed the character that we’ve got in the team. I still felt we had a goal in us but we’ve given away two poor goals from our point of view.

“I told them there can only be positives to take from this: we’re now creating a team that’s putting on performances to compete with teams like Sauchie.

“We’ve created a young team who is now making it to finals; now hopefully we can keep going and get over the line now we’ve got that mentality.”

Bonar added: “We changed formation towards the end which allowed us to get back into it but did leave us exposed at the back.

“If you’re going to win something, you need to take risks and all credit to the boys, it’s a good goal from Corey.

“I thought a lot of them were outstanding especially in the heat and to go and get that goal at the end, outstanding. Congratulations to Sauchie.”