Falkirk seemed to cope better with the pitch which is still atrocious and while they were not averse to playing route one at times, they definitely knocked the ball around with more assurance. There were few chances in the opening exchanges but the guests took the lead when a lovely flick from Moutinho presented Flynn with an open goal although Ruddy was again at fault having rushed from his line.
Lasley digs in
The goalkeeper blocked from Arfield as Falkirk looked to go two up before the break but a few half chances, notably headers from Sutton, suggested that all was not lost for us. Ruddy went off at the break with a thigh injury but along with sending on Fraser, Craig Brown also made the bizarre decision to put Sutton on the left of what was effectively a 4-5-1.
Lasley went off injured to be replaced by Coke and though we had a lot of the ball we did absolutely nothing with it. Humphrey’s introduction added some much needed pace to the wing and his cross produced a rare chance for Sutton but his header lacked pace and was easily cleared.
Falkirk should have made the game safe late on when Hammell was dispossessed and Arfield fired over with the goal at his mercy. He was almost punished for the miss when Craigan’s flick created half a yard for Jennings but he was at full stretch and Olejnik blocked his injury time poke.
That secured the points for Falkirk and after a hugely disappointing performance all that was left was to acknowledge they deserved their win. A repeat effort like this against Celtic a week on Tuesday will surely produce an even more substantial defeat.