Smith finishes his time at Falkirk with a win – and a glass of wine
FALKiRK 2
Balatoni (18), Hippolyte (59)
DUNFERMLiNE 0
Alex Smith spent last night toasting the Falkirk fans for the way they cheered him at the end of his time as caretaker manager.
The 77-year-old ended his two-game spell with a second successive victory and hands over the reins to Paul Hartley.
Chants of: “There’s only one Alex Smith!” were belted out as the Bairns sealed their place in the next round of the Irn Bru Cup.
He’s seen it all in football, but the former St Mirren and Aberdeen manager was clearly delighted by the fond farewell.
He said: “It was nice. I’ll have a glass of wine to that.
“It’s usually, ‘Alex Smith get to –’.”
Smith steadied the ship at Falkirk after a difficult start to the season.
He believes Hartley can now benefit from a new surge of confidence in the squad.
“We haven’t looked like losing a goal in the last two games and that always gives you a base to go on and win,” he said.
“We were playing too loose, but we’ve tightened things up and that’s made a difference.
“It was important to get a second win before handing over to Paul.
“We’ve created a bit of momentum and hopefully we can get back into the area of the league where we should be competing.
“I spoke to Paul after the game and he was happy with the way we played. He will increase the confidence in the team and he knows how to take the momentum forward.
“Football is a complex game.
A lot of experts say it’s simple but they have it the wrong way round.
“It’s a complex game made simple by good players and common sense football.”
Giving their veteran interim boss a winning send-off was important to the Bairns’ players and they knew their new manager was watching from the stand.
Dunfermline only got stuck in during the last 15 minutes.
Dean Shiels got himself involved in a shouting match with the referee and several opponents.
That seemed to rouse his team-mates, but the former Rangers man took it too far.
In an act of complete stupidity, Shiels got a straight red card for a wild tackle on McKee in the sixth minute of added-on time.
There had been a lengthy delay when Falkirk goalie David Mitchell slipped making a clearance and had to be stretchered off. He was taken to hospital with a suspected dislocated knee.
Falkirk never looked like losing the lead that had been created thanks to the running power of Miles Hippolyte, who was playing for the first time in nearly two months.
The striker’s looping corner was stabbed home by Balatoni at the back post to break the deadlock after 18 minutes.
Hippolyte got on the scoresheet after an hour when he burst into the penalty area and produced a clinical finish into the corner of the net.
Dunfermline boss Allan Johnston made it clear that his priority is promotion.
He said: “We had four players away with international call-ups, but we’ve used this completion to give game-time to boys who haven’t played a lot.
“I have to take responsibility because we could have cancelled the match.
“I thought with the players available we were good enough to win the game but struggled going forward.
“Now we have to get back on track for the league.
“The sending-off was needless and we’ll talk to Dean about it.”