Bairns look to Swans

Paul Hartley is hoping to turn Falkirk’s relationship with English Premier League big guns Swansea into a two-way street, after a tough start to the season.

The Bairns boss has seen four of his top talents – Stephen Kingsley, Jay Fulton, Botti Biabi and Ryan Blair – move to South Wales in the last four years and is now looking for help from the Welsh club in the loan market.

As he prepared to take on Dundee United this afternoon, he said: “January is going to be really important.

“We have enquired about players already and are trying to do our homework early.”

Hartley has imposed a new regime on the team to improve cohesion as they sit in the bottom two of the Championship.

He said: “I see good things from the team. We are only in the door a month but we’re trying to change the style.

“The players see how we want to work and hopefully in terms of tempo and intensity we have stepped up the training here.”

Defender Aaron Muirhead believes the signs are there for the season to be rescued.

But he insists it comes down to the players to rediscover the form which has seen his side finish second in the past two years.

He said: “The togetherness is there, we can’t keep harking back to what we’ve done in previous seasons.

“Everything we achieved in those campaigns was down to hard work.

“We had that bit extra about us, a swagger. Playing Rangers and Hibs, we didn’t fear them.

“We can reach fourth place but we need to put a run of results together.”