TOMMY SLOAN says Auchinleck Talbot need to show “a better appetite” when they return to league duties this weekend after seeing their eight-match winning streak halted in West Lothian on Saturday.

Tucker admitted he felt Talbot’s South Challenge Cup tie away to Broxburn Athletic was all but over inside the first half an hour after the East Premier leaders surged into a 2-0 lead at Albyn Park – Errol Douglas opening the scoring after a Neill McPherson pass was intercepted, before Ben Davidson made space for himself inside the box to double the hosts’ advantage on 26 minutes.

The Beechwood men’s slim hopes of reaching the last 16 of the tournament suffered a further blow when Ewan Thomson saw red for a reckless challenge on Lewis Turner just before the break – and were extinguished altogether when Douglas grabbed his second and the home side’s third with the hosts’ first serious attack of the second half, a simple back-post conversion of Mark Munro’s low cross from the right.

With Talbot’s hopes of repeating their triumph in the 2022 final now over, attention turns back to their bid to climb the Premier Division table as Sloan takes his side to Barrhead to face Arthurlie.

A hard-fought win at home to Largs last Wednesday night, courtesy of Mick Wardrope’s stunning strike from distance on the stroke of half-time, took Talbot into the top half of the standings for the first time this season – though with the result having been rather better than the performance, Sloan says he knows improvement is required against an Arthurlie side who were the last to take league points off Talbot when they earned a point at Beechwood way back in early September.

Speaking to Talbot’s media team after Saturday’s cup tie, Tucker said: “It was a really flat performance – there’s excuses there with the midweek game, but they certainly looked a lot fresher than us.

“We had to get the first goal in the second half. But I think the match was away from us after 20 minutes. Did I see us ever getting back into it? No, I didn’t.

“We need to bounce back from this performance. Arthurlie’s always a tough place to go – they’ve been to our bit already this year and drew 2-2, but certainly we need a better appetite than we showed today, especially in the first half-hour.”

This Saturday's league match at Dunterlie - against an Arthurlie side who remain mired in the bottom three after back-to-back losses to Gartcairn and Darvel in the past week - has a 1.30pm kick-off.

Watch post-match interviews with Tommy Sloan from the Broxburn and Largs fixtures, as well as highlights from both matches, online at youtube.com/@AuchinleckTalbotFC.