Falkirk boss Ray McKinnon pleased with closed doors Hamilton workout

The Bairns boss got his first look at the players in a match environment this week when Falkirk took on Hamilton Accies in a behind closed doors bounce game at their Stirling University pre-season training base.

Accies won 2-0 with a double from Marios Ogkmpoe - but like most managers McKinnon won’t read too much into pre-season friendlies.

The aim is to bring on fitness and match sharpness, and from that point of view McKinnon was delighted with the exercise.

He said: “I thought it was excellent, we played some great stuff. Everybody got 45 minutes and we had a lot of trialists in as well, so it was good.

“For the first game the fitness was very good so I’m very happy.

“We just wanted to use where we’re training at Stirling University as the pitch; it suited both us and Hamilton to do that. It was an opportunity to get a game under our belts, a fitness exercise.”

“We’re delighted with the guys, they’ve all come back very fit and having taken care of their bodies.

“We’ve got a very good squad there in terms of professionalism and fitness and I can’t be more pleased with how things are going.

“There’s a real happiness, a good feeling about the dressing room and that’s what you want.

“You want people coming in happy coming to their work and we’ve got that at the moment. We just need to keep working at it but the group have certainly gelled very well."

The Bairns have another bounce game lined up for Saturday against Partick Thistle, again at Stirling.

That’s followed by a trip to Glebe Park next Tuesday for an open-to-the-public match against one of the manager’s former clubs, Brechin City - the Bairns’ final outing before their competitive opener at home to Livingston in the Betfred Cup the following Saturday.