Houston pays the price for winless start

● Livingston defeat is the final straw as Smith takes temporary charge of team

Falkirk’s poor start to the Championship has seen managerpeterhouston,along with his coaching staff of James Mcdonaugh and Alan Maybury, part company with the Bairns.

Formerdundeeunitedmanager Houston, pictured, has been in charge at the Falkirk Stadium since June 2014 and during that time he has led them to a Scottish Cup final as well as the last stage of the Premiership play-offs, where they lost to Kilmarnock.

This season started well enough with a perfect four wins from their Betfred Cup group, even leading to talk of a return to Hearts for Houston as the Tynecastle club searched for a replacement for Ian Cathro.

However, no wins in seven league games sees Falkirk, who finished second to Hibs last season and Rangers the year before, sit second bottom, just one point above Brechin.

Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat by Livingston was the last straw with the club announcing last night that it had come to a mutual agreement for Houston, Mcdonaugh and Maybury to leave with immediate effect.

Technical director Alex Smith will take charge of the first team on an interim basis, with senior squad players Mark Kerr and Lee Miller helping out alongside academy director Michael Mcardle.

A club spokesperson said: “We want to thank Peter, James and Alan for the enormous amount of work they have put in to improving the football department over the past three years.

“Under their stewardship Falkirk have enjoyed some memorable occasions, including the 2015 Scottish Cup final and two successive runnersup finishes in the Ladbrokes Championship.

“The board will take time to recruit the right management team to lead the club forward.” Houston thanked the players, his backroom staff, the board and the fans for their support and added: “We are disappointed with the start to the season and the board and I have come to a mutual agreement that to get the club moving again it is best that someone fresh is brought in.

“It has been a decent three or so years; there have been some real highlights, including reaching the Scottish Cup final and finishing second, but we just fell short of the goals we all hoped we could achieve. It wasn’t down to lack of effort and I’ve got to thank the players for all they have put in.”

Former Dundee manager Paul Hartley is likely to be on the club’s list of possible candidates to replace Houston, while a couple of former Falkirk managers – John Hughes and Steven Pressley – could also be in the frame.