Bairns background checks can give Falkirk the upper hand says boss McCracken

Miller and McCracken have left no stone unturned in their match preparation be it against Linlithgow Rose or Stranraer or Saturday’s opponents East Fife.

And they’ve been implementing game-based scenarios thouhout training too.

It all comes from their own playing experiences.

McCracken explained: “We know as a player if you can go into the game with a good source of information on your opposition – the strikers, midfielders, how they work defensively, how they line up at set-pieces, can expolit them - why wouldn’t you do that?

“We’ve had a number of people watch East Fife’s games and we’ve had a few reports on them and obviously myself, having come up against them this year with Peterhead, I know a bit about them. Plus we both know a number of their players as well from playing against them and playing through our career wso that’s an added advantage too.

“We’ve done some game-based scenarios both weeks and lifted aspects of each match. The set-up has been different for the two teams we’ve faced but it’ll be the same this week – phases of play on Thursday and shapes on Friday.

“We’ll look at how East Fife play, what we need to be aware of in their strengths and then their weaknesses and where to exploit.”

It’s been a case of so far so good since the duo took over. Seven goals have been scored, two wins achieved, progress in the cup and only one goal conceded – in a wobble against Linlithgow at Prestonfield.

That’s given the caretakers a solid base to claim for the job full-time but despite their enthusiastic personalities, you won’t find them getting carried away.

“We will not be fooled by anything,” added McCracken. “We have had two games, one against Linlithgow Rose and the other against Stranraer who have been having a tough time but we have said before – you can only beat what’s in front of you.

“We know it will be a tougher test this weekend but we’ll go in exactly the same way as we have done over the past two weeks and make sure we do all our research which we have done in previous games and make sure the boys are prep’d properly for the game on Saturday.

“They will know exactly what they’ll come up against in terms of East Fife’s strengths and weaknesses and areas to exploit them, and we’ll look to continue the good habits we’ve been creating over the past couple of games.”