Match Report
Wednesday, 9th October, 2024
by Ben Kearney
Bairns' new disco lights are the highlight of bore draw that sees them top
The Bairns' new disco lights made an inauspicious impression on Tuesday night as the home supporters witnessed something uncustomary to the Falkirk Stadium under John McGlynn's stewardship - a goalless draw.
With the state-of-the-art LED system being used for the first time pre-match, the 90 minutes that followed against Livingston didn't particularly illuminate, but it did send the Bairns top of the Scottish Championship table.
Clear cut chances were at a premium for both sides on the night with Falkirk's frustrating Ross MacIver-shaped hole in attack evident for all to see.
But manager McGlynn insisted that he couldn't "couldn't complain too much" after a stunning start to the campaign seeing the Bairns' top of the second tier with a game in hand over second-placed Ayr United.
"The first half was very even, but I thought we dominated the second half and deserved to win the game based on that," he said.
"But we're top of the league, they're Premiership last year, we were League One.
"Each team cuts each other's throats in this league - 19 points from eight games isn't a bad return. This could be a valuable point.
"It is a good clean sheet for us too."
McGlynn thought his side had taken the lead just after the hour mark when Ethan Ross fired home in the box, but the goal was chopped off for the ball being adjudged to have gone out of play earlier on in the move.
And that left the boss irked by the linesman's ‘wrong' call to deem that Keelan Adams touched the ball over the line.
"We don't have a camera on the line so it's difficult to tell but I don't think the linesman can tell if the ball is out (when Keelan crosses for Ethan) so I think you have to play on," he said,
"If you don't know then surely it is still live and you play on, the linesman can't be sure. He is six or seven yards up the line. That was the crucial moment."
The Bairns' last competitive goalless home draw came exactly one year and one day previous against Hamilton Accies in League One. Since then, Falkirk have only played out a 0-0 once, and that came away to Montrose one month later in November 2023.