SEEKING a remedy for the winter blues? Book a cheap seat with a budget airline and fly off to warmer climes.
In just a couple of hours you'll be swapping beanies and scarves for visors and shirt sleeves.
Pack the factor 15 and your sunglasses – the Scottish weather will soon be forgotten about.
Alternatively, travel for an extra 30 minutes by bus, train o
r car to Inverness. The Bairns may even throw in three points for your efforts.
This is not a campaign for the Highland city's tourist board though. This is testament to the small band of supporters who left Falkirk at 8.30 a.m. last Saturday, and even the night before, for a long trip north which they'll remember for some time yet.
Not for the quality on show, however – no way. The Caledonian Stadium, basked in sunshine, felt more like a Riviera arena as temperatures soared, yet the football was anything but continental.
Instead, for the chance of witnessing their team claim three massively important points in the quest for a top-six finish this season.
OK, the Bairns left it late, yet one golden strike by substitute Billy Clarke was enough to keep the dream firmly alive.
The Ipswich striker bagged his first goal for his on-loan team since joining in January, tucking the ball into the net in the 86th minute after an awe-inspiring run into the box by Russell Latapy.
And, with three games remaining, that turned up the heat on all the other clubs looking to be included in the upper half of the SPL come the split next month.
Caley Thistle, by manager Craig Brewster's own admission, can now pretty much forget it.
Hearts, Falkirk's next opponents, must win at Tynecastle on Saturday by at least two clear goals if they are to draw level, while Aberdeen – at home to St Mirren – have to find the net a few times more than that.
"We now have a big, big game against Hearts," said John Hughes after this latest encounter.
"Tynecastle is a fantastic place to go and play your football, against a good side.
"They've had a hard year but we have to travel there and give it a right go, be spirited and stick together."
Despite the lack of chances up front, that was something Falkirk did do throughout the 90 minutes in Inverness.
Superior possession and territorial advantage didn't count for much in terms of a spectacle for the travelling supporters, but it did contain any potential threat of the Highland side.
Indeed, both teams – each in with a chance of claiming a money-spinning finish to the campaign among the league's higher echelons – looked lethargic and failed to inspire anything like the weather.
"It wasn't the greatest game and I didn't feel there was much between us," said Hughes. "The sun was out and it was played at a pace more like one at the end of the season.
"That was disappointing for a team with aspirations to get in the top six, so that was my talk at half-time.
"The introduction of (Arnau) Riera and Latapy put us on the front foot though, and I'm delighted we got the winner through Clarke.
"He possibly felt when he came here that he was going to play every week, and is probably disappointed that he isn't. But that goal will give him all the confidence he needs and he will come into contention for the starting 11 next weekend."
Cancelled
Falkirk and Caley cancelled each other out and the first half provided just enough incidents to fill a postcard home.
Both keepers were hardly tested and a third 0-0 draw in four fixtures for the visitors looked like a stick on.
Robert Olejnik easily held an early Dennis Wyness effort and was then a spectator when Marius Niculae's shot sailed over the bar.
Carl Finnigan, at the other end, had a left-foot drive deflected to safety and his attempt on the turn from four yards, after a Pedro Moutinho corner, was blocked.
Falkirk's minder did produce a wonderful finger-tip save to send Niculae's low angled shot wide with eight minutes of the half remaining, although it may have been heading past the upright anyway. And that was that.
After the break Moutinho's weak effort didn't trouble Michael Fraser, Kevin McBride's long-range shot ended up in the visitors' stand and Gerard Aafjes failed to force the ball through a ruck of players and over the line in the 74th minute.
Caley came close on three occasions, the best chance through a Graham Bayne header that just went past the left upright but, despite Brewster's observation that his side were in the ascendancy during the latter stages, Olejnik always looked odds-on to claim another clean sheet.
Fraser did as well – until some ageless Latapy magic unhinged the Caley defence and set-up Clarke for a goal which sent the Falkirk fans wild.
The 20-year-old was duly booked for his celebrations, hurling himself into the supporters' open arms, but he can be completely forgiven.
Clarke had just bagged his first goal for the Bairns, possibly one of his most important ever, and the trip back down the A9 suddenly became something that everyone was actually looking forward to.
Falkirk: Olejnik 7, Aafjes 6, Barr 7, Milne 7, Scobbie 6, Moutinho 6 (Clarke 70, 5), Cregg 5 (Latapy 57, 5), McBride 6, Arfield 6, Barrett 6, Finnigan 5 (Riera 57, 4)
Not used: Supple, Ross, Stewart, Bradley
Booked: Clarke 87
Inverness CT: Fraser, Tokely, McGuire, Munro, Hastings, Cowie (McAllister 80), Duncan, Black, McBain (Imrie 80), Niculae, Wyness (Bayne 53)
Not used: Malkowski, Kerr, Vigurs, Proctor
Booked: Black 90
Referee: Callum Murray
INVERNESS CALEY 0
FALKIRK 1
Clarke 86
(HT 0-0)
Game rating: zzzzzzzzzz
Attendance: 4012 (Falkirk 686)
n JULIAN PECK
At The Caledonian Stadium
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