It’s men against boys as Bairns cope admirably
ON the day the club nicknamed the Bairns opened a match-day creche, Falkirk had no need for their father figure as they beat St Mirren with ease.
Manager Peter Houston served a touchline suspension for a post-match outburst at Ibrox last month, but the home side coped admirably with the dugout promptings of assistant James McDonaugh to move to within a point of second-placed Hibernian.
First-half goals from Craig Sibbald and John Baird made it an uncomfortable break for the Buddies, who blasted out of the blocks at the start of the second period but faced an even more mountainous task when Jack Baird was controversially sentoff in the 63rd minute.
The big stopper was Saints’ last defender when he was adjudged to have intentionally handled the ball as Bob McHugh sought to scamper clear and, after consulting his stand-side assistant, referee Greg Aitken flashed his red card.
‘It was a huge call from the referee and he obviously felt it was intentional hand-ball, which I thought was really harsh,’ complained Paisley manager Ian Murray, whose side are now only above the relegation play-offs on goal difference.
The decision effectively killed off the visitors’ hopes of a comeback and a stunning drive from Will Vaulks capped an excellent day’s work for Falkirk.
It was a disastrous one for St Mirren, who had debutant Craig Reid dismissed three minutes from time for pulling back Kevin O’Hara as he tried to break free from midfield.
‘Maybe I should just retire now,’ joked McDonaugh. ‘The only difference today was the manager upstairs, everything else was the same; the preparation all that stuff. We were just missing his presence in the dugout.
‘You’ve just got to get on with it and hope you’re doing the right thing. We had a game plan and luckily for me it went the way we wanted it to. It was quite a solid performance from the team; we defended really well, at times we played good stuff, the goals were well worked and the third was spectacular.’
St Mirren began the tidier of the teams but found themselves in arrears in the 18th minute. A slick Falkirk interchange freed up Baird in space on the right and his searching cross was nodded in by Sibbald.
Just two minutes before the break, the Bairns doubled their advantage. Andy Webster was off changing his shirt after treatment for a facial injury but there was no excuse for the lack of marking that allowed Baird to head in all too easily to connect with Paul Watson’s deep cross.
St Mirren opened the second period in such determined fashion a comeback looked possible but, unable to convert their opportunities, the first red card extinguished their hopes before Vaulks lashed in.