'Thankfully the changes paid off' - Falkirk boss John McGlynn reveals late call-offs led to more attacking line-up at FC Edinburgh

Falkirk manager John McGlynn has revealed that Saturday’s impressive 3-0 League 1 success at FC Edinburgh was achieved despite him being forced into making some crucial selection changes to his starting XI.
John McGlynn leading his team to victory at FC Edinburgh (Pic by Michael Gillen)John McGlynn leading his team to victory at FC Edinburgh (Pic by Michael Gillen)
John McGlynn leading his team to victory at FC Edinburgh (Pic by Michael Gillen)

Goals by Callumn Morrison, Gary Oliver and substitute Rumarn Burrell did the damage for the Bairns, who began the game with McGlynn fielding a very attacking line-up necessitated by call-offs.

“I’m really pleased to win 3-0 away from home,” he told the Falkirk Herald. “You can’t ask for an awful lot more.

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"Rumarn came off the banch and did well. We were a very attacking team today.

"We had a call-off this morning from Steven Hetherington so I had to put Gary (Oliver) in there and Gary’s an attacking player.

"And Aidan Nesbitt was in midfield. With Craig McGuffie, Callumn Morrison and Juan Alegria on the pitch, we had a lot of attacking options.

"We kind of went for it. We didn’t have a great deal of options because what we had left was a lot of attackers.

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"In 24 hours we lost Ryan Williamson on Friday and then on Saturday morning we lost Steven Hetherington who was ill so we had to make changes but thankfully that paid off.”

The win at Meadowbank Stadium – Falkirk’s second in a row in the league – puts them into fourth place in League 1, level on points with third plaed Clyde and just three points behind the top two of Airdrieonians and Dunfermline Athletic after four matches.

And McGlynn feels that the Bairns – who host Queen of the South in their next league game this Saturday – are building up a head of steam in their quest to mount a promotion challenge this term.

He also reckons that the Falkirk fans – who turned out in good numbers in Edinburgh – can help their team along the way.

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"It’s early days but we’re certainly pleased to get back-to-back wins,” McGlynn added.

"I don’t think that was done last season so if that’s true we’re delighted to get that monkey off our back.

"We’ve got a home game next against Queen of the South, another team that will be doing well this season so that will be another test.

"The fans have been great, they’ve been fantastic.

“We carry a big support. The home crowd’s been 3800 against Montrose and then 3400 last week against Peterhead, amazing crowds really.

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"So we know the potential here and if we can get a winning team that is going to get bigger and bigger.”

McGlynn already has experience of getting a team promoted from Scotland’s third tier as he was manager when former club Raith Rovers won the old second division in season 2008-2009.

"It takes a lot of different qualities to win a league,” he added. "Because you’ve got to play through the early part of the season.

"Then you go into the middle of the season which takes you through autumn and into winter and you’ve got to have different qualities.

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"Because pitches change and the weather changes. Some players like the nice weather and some don’t like the winter months.

"It takes attitude, togetherness, team spirit, fighting for each other and obviously good players. It takes a lot of different ingredients to get it right and we can only hope that we can build that here.”

In terms of signing new players before the end of August, McGlynn said one or two would need sold first.