Kidd inspires Bairns

FALKIRK propelled themselves up to second in the table with a gritty win in Dumfries and all but ended the hosts’ play-off hopes.

This wasn’t one for the football purists, far from it. But it was a dogged, determined display from Peter Houston’s side who certainly deserved the win, which takes them to within six points of leaders Hibs. A free-kick from Lewis Kidd and a penalty from Craig Sibbald in each half won them the points against a Queen of the South side who were subdued at best.

It was a win that pleased the Falkirk boss, who claimed his first league win as Bairns manager in Dumfries. Houston said: “Palmerston Park is always a difficult place and they were looking to cut the gap on us, so it was a very, very important win for us.

“It was a cup final in many ways because we had to keep them away from us. We’ve moved into second too. It’s been a good quarter for us and we are unbeaten this year.

“I’m delighted with that because we had to make a lot of changes, but it showed we have strength in depth.”

The visitors stamped their authority on the game in a first half of few chances, which was littered with niggly free-kicks and knocks. Defender Lucas Gasparotto nodded a free header wide from a corner.

And John Baird, the normally reliable striker lashed a volley wide when he just had Queen of the South keeper Lee Robinson to beat after an error from Scott Mercer left him one-on-one with the keeper.

But their pressure eventually told in the dying embers of the half when Kidd curled a free-kick past the unsighted Robinson into the net from the edge of the area to hand Falkirk a lead after Baird had been tripped.

Queen’s restarted with more purpose and it took a well-timed challenge from Gasparotto to deny Stephen Dobbie, who looked favourite to equalise. Then Kyle Jacobs nodded tamely over from close range.

However, the visitors made sure of the points with 11 minutes left after Andy Dowie brought down Nathan Austin in the box just as he was preparing to shoot in front of goal. Sibbald coolly slotted home the resulting penalty with aplomb.

Palmerston Park manager Gary Naysmith had no complaints about the outcome.

He admitted: “The better team won. Falkirk thoroughly deserved their win. It was a frustrating performance from us. For whatever reason the players have put in one of their worst performances since I have been here.

“It’s come out of nowhere and I am not going to go overboard with them. It was a bad day in the office.”