A Son of the Rock

SPFL Tier 2, Falkirk Stadium, 19/10/13

A welcome and (before the game, unexpected) win.

Considering we had a cobbled together midfield due to injuries this was heartening.

We started brightly enough having the better of the very early exchanges but Falkirk always looked as if they could be dangerous when they got the ball out wide where they seemed to have lots of room.

The goal came after a good move, Jordan Kilpatrick collected in space on the left and his shot (sclaffed I think) was turned back and into the goal by Garry Fleming. A few minutes later Jordan Kilpatrick again took the ball in space: his shot this time went just over the bar. Scratch midfield or not, we were putting together some good passing moves.

Our second was a sweeping move from our own half, Paul McGinn’s cross clipped in off the post by Mitch Megginson’s first time touch.

Towards the end of the half their number 9 took the ball infield from the wing and hit an unstoppable shot past Jamie Ewings. Not long after that the same Falkirk player showed an outrageous piece of dissent towards the referee. He should have been off then and there. (He did pick up a booking during the game and was red-carded in the last minute after stupidly booting the ball away.)

Second half they came out looking to play the ball faster and pressing higher up the pitch. Our defence managed to frustrate them though. They did hit the bar at one point and also claimed for a penalty later on but from where I was it looked as if there was no contact.

Despite all their possession and looking as if they knew what they were doing Falkirk had a tendency to over-elaborate. The goal apart, Jamie Ewings didn’t have a save to make all game.

All the players put a good shift in, though. Even Kevin Smith when he replaced Garry Fleming. It was Jordan Kirkpatrick’s first full 90 minutes. He did well in the first half but faded out a bit in the second – as did most of our attacking efforts to be fair.