Coll Donaldson admits alarming 'theme' that has plagued Falkirk's campaign

John McGlynn’s side now have an almost impossible task to make it to the Championship promotion play-off final after shipping six goals to Airdrie in the first leg semi-final tie on Tuesday night.

Donaldson grabbed a goal back for Falkirk in the second half, but the 6-2 scoreline leaves the team all-but out of the reckoning.

He said ahead of Saturday’s second leg against the Diamonds: “There is an overriding feeling of having let people down, and it feels like in all honestly that it is a bit of a theme now. There have been far too many disappointments this year and we have put ourselves in positions to achieve things, only to find wanting at the final hurdle.

“It leaves a sour taste in the mouth and it is still pretty raw. Saturday is about trying to restore and recover some pride. The tie may be beyond us but miracles do happen in football and we can’t feel like it is over yet.

“Saturday is about trying to win the game and seeing where it takes us. We’ll need to start the game well and an early goal would help.

“When you are ahead in a tie, you sometimes don’t whether to stick or twist. We need to get the crowd behind us.

“We haven’t given up but are realistic that it is going to take a lot.”

Donaldson also revealed just furious boss John McGlynn was with the performance – saying that the players want to make it up to him too.

"He was angry,” the centre-back said. “I think he takes it on worse than most managers (when he loses a game) and it means an awful lot to him, and of course to us too.

“We’ve looked over the goals and he is ever the optimist. He has got us believing and we need to show that Tuesday night wasn’t a true reflection of him as a manager or us as a team.

“It really hurts because the disappointments have all came on the biggest stage for us and that is a problem – you can’t hide away from that.

“In the other matches (2-0 loss away to Dunfermline in the league and the 3-0 loss to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup semi final) I don’t think we played that poorly.

“But Tuesday was different because we were just so poor.”