Falkirk 2 Dunfermline Athletic 0: Watch It Again Weekend with Falkirk TV – February 4, 2017

FALKIRK 2 Dunfermline Athletic 0

Bairns 'Dedication Derby' win is a lift to supporters' spirits

Match Gallery: Michael Gillen’s matchday photography

Falkirk were so good against Dunfermline you could call it a Demolition Derby, but it was more than that – it was Dedication Day.

On Saturday the Bairns comfortably saw off rivals Dunfermline with ease in a 2-0 win which boss Peter Houston dedicated to absent winger Fraser Aird, who had flown home to Canada for his father’s funeral.

On the stroke of the 39th minute the Falkirk Stadium united - home and away - in a minute’s applause for Bairns fan Stevie Black who died last week aged 39, while hours earlier fans had gathered to complete the fundraising effort for Bairns fan Gordon McFarlane’s on-going recovery from a severe stroke 18 months ago.

Thoughts may have been with others, but the players’ focus was spot on and put a smile amongst the sombre.

Falkirk were head and shoulders above the Pars in every department and the strikeforce is back, firing again.

Lee Miller laid on John Baird for the opener from James Craigen’s free-kick and Baird returned the compliment in the second half, though may yet claim the second as his goal before Miller made sure.

Peter Houston broke up an otherwise winning formation to cover for Aird’s absence and Mark Kerr’s injury, drafting in James Craigen and debutant Joe McKee.

McKee did not look out of place beside Craig Sibbald in the engine room and Craigen had one of his better days in a Falkirk shirt. Indeed most of the Bairns did. Even without their usual compass point and fulcrum Mark Kerr, everything ticked over and despite aneagerly anticipatory atmosphere pre-match, Falkirk simply eased through the gears to leave in their wake.

Sure there were moments of uncertainty and a couple of set-pieces weren’t defended all too well,but the only team who would have inflicted defeat on Falkirk was the Bairns themselves.The Pars didn’t look up to much.

Danny Rogers really had one save to make, to deny Andy Geggan low at his post, and watched Lee Ashcroft glance an unmarked and unchallenged header wide in the second half but that was it. Otherwise it was all Falkirk.

Myles Hippolyte blasted a shot wide from the edge of the box and Baird headed over from an already offside position before he finally found the net. The little striker got in front of his man to meet a Miller knock-down to an excellent Craigen free-kick delivery and he tapped in his third goal in two games from close range on 33 minutes.

Shortly afterwards the Bairns support were on their feet again to pay tribute to one of their own, and then again to cheer the team off at half-time.

More of the same was all that was required and that’s what the Bairns produced in a quietly dominant second 45 minutes.

Lee Miller got on the scoresheet, hammering in a rebound to a Baird shot that Sean Murdoch had pushed onto the bar but he ought to have had another when he leapt magnificently to meet another excellent wide delivery– from Hippolyte – but he somewhow missed the target despite doing everything right.

He made up for it with the second though Baird will perhaps lay claim to two braces in as many weeks as his shot from a wayward Hippolyte effort was pushed onto the bar by Sean Murdoch and bounced on the line – or was it over? Regardless Miller rammed in the loose ball and sent the Bairns into third on goals scored.

Afterwards boss Houston dedicated the win to winger Aird,who he revealed had sent his support in a transatlantic text message.

“That’s for Fraser,” said the Bairns’ boss. “The boys are all upset for him because he is only a young man.

“Fraser actually sent me a text on the day of his dad’s funeral and said, ‘Keep it going gaffer, I wish you all the best’.

“What do you say to a boy when he is thinking about us?”

But his Bairns team-mates did him proud.