Airdrie 1 Falkirk 1: Monday verdict - Positive point comes at a cost

Drawing with your rivals and moving up the table should be seen as a positive – but for Falkirk after the 1-1 draw at Airdrie it really was a case of what might have been.

And what might be yet to come too.

The Bairns were at least a match for Ian Murray’s team in the first half, standing up to the most physically dominant side they’ll meet in League One this season. And after the break, they excelled against the Diamonds, but didn’t have that cutting edge to see off the North Lanarkshire side for the first time this season.

But it was not for the want of trying. Somehow the Bairns only managed to beat David Hutton once.

Gregor Buchanan, himself a former Airdrie defender in his formative football years, saw Hutton slap his header onto the crossbar – with the pictures from touchline photographer Alan Murray making the ball look very close to crossing the line, assuming it didn’t. Even then Declan McManus couldn’t force it over. But David McMillan did a few minutes later.

It evened itself out and so did the injustices at the other end when Lewis Toshney’s handball was missed but then punished retrospectively by Gregor Buchanan’s own block.

Robbie Mutch had no chance with the penalty and indeed netiher did Buchanan who looked to be doing everything in his power not to have his arms presented when he moved to block a shot outside the box and still a spot-kick was given.

A third-tier refereeing performance for a third-rate Scottish game isn’t really unexpected but it is nonethless grating on the Bairns support who are backing their side – and their opponents financially - with burgeoning crowds in four-figures and routinely feeling injustice at the match officials.

They deserve better and Falkirk probably deserved more but while taking a point from the Penny Cars Stadium and moving third is on the surface positive, there’s a nagging frustration associated with it too.

The scale of the Bairns chances in the second half were again not capitalised on and Falkirk remain behind Airdrie as 2019 becomes 2020. But the omens are promising if potential chances are your thing. But taking chances at the back is also a worry.

Mark Durnan looked rusty after his enforced absence and while Lee Miller and David McCracken can look forward to Morgaro Gomis returning and the option of Charlie Telfer’s craft returning after their own suspensions the Bairns’ selection headache continues on the treatment table with Longridge still on crutches early this week and Ross MacLean in constant pain from arib injury.

That makes the point gained and small ascent in the standings seem more costly than positive but the Bairns, like the trio, are still standing and sit a win off the top - a positive no matter how frustrating the feelings are this week.