ST MIRREN 1 Loy (77) FALKIRK 2 Baird (11, 63)

FALKIRK kept in touch with their play-off rivals and inflicted further misery on St Mirren who on this evidence seem destined for a drop down to League One.

Two John Baird goals either side of half-time did the damage – the Paisley men’s only reply coming via a late Rory Loy effort on his second home debut back at Saints.

Falkirk manager Peter Houston said: “I thought it should have been more comfortable for us than it actually was because, with all the chances we created, the game should have been beyond St Mirren.

“It was good for John Baird to get goals today. He needed that, as he has not scored as many as he did last season.”

His counterpart Jack Ross admitted: “We should have defended better but we did look better today and, although we did not do enough to win the game, there is an argument to say we should have taken something from it.”

St Mirren started brightly with their new starts keen to impress the Paisley faithful.

But they were caught cold for the visitors’ opener – the type of goal which summed up their poor luck of late.

Myles Hippolyte took a throw-in for Falkirk seemingly much further up the pich than he should have and, as St Mirren switched off, waiting for the officials to intervene, the throw found John Baird who raced past Gary MacKenzie and found the net.

Saints took a while to recover and responded with John Sutton and Cammy Smith linking up for two efforts on goal – although they did not really trouble visiting goalie Danny Rogers.

Saints introduced the returning Stephen McGinn 10 minutes into the second half and he made an immediate good impression. But any momentum gained was lost when Falkirk doubled their lead eight minutes later when Lee Miller’s low cross was cracked home by Baird.

Saints looked down and out but fought back with a late flurry and Loy twisted and turned to find the far corner with a low drive.