Falkirk 3 St Mirren 0, October 2015 - Watch It Again on FalkirkTV

Falkirk 3 St Mirren 0

The 617 Saints supporters headed back to Paisley after this Hallowe’en horror-show brought the spectre of a second relegation into sharper focus.

For their Falkirk counterparts, the team never missed a trick and it was a treat to savour. Peter Houston’s men are now comfortably in the playoff positions.

In the early stages, it looked as if it would be the visitors who would make the breakthrough, and a Calum Gallagher header gave warning of their intent. Peter Grant replied with a similar effort at

the other end, and the openness of the first quarter was a welcome attraction.

Falkirk opened the scoring after 18 minutes through Craig Sibbald who beat an exposed Langfield when he headed home a chip to the back post from Baird. Neutrals might have felt it was somewhat against the run of play, but last week’s hat-trick hero Baird was full of confidence and causing all sorts of problems to the visitors’ rearguard.

While Saints had the advantage in terms of possession, there was no denying that Falkirk used their share

to better effect and looked solid at the back. Saints knew what defeat would mean for them in terms of the points difference between the two sides and the contest between the two Bairds – Jack and John – was an intriguing one.

The Bairn and Sibbald were combining well, and the former headed straight at Langfield from a Sibbald cross when he maybe should have done better. He is a streetwise striker and he appealed

for a penalty after a clash with Goodwin that fell on deaf ears, before delivering a killer blow two minutes before the break.

A Vaulks cross found Baird in acres of space, with the Saints defence missing the injured Webster, and he beat Langfield. St.Mirren had enjoyed the majority of possession, but found themselves two down. It could have been worse, as McHugh had another chance just before the break, but shot tamely.

The old playground saying of “Next goal’s the winner” was never more appropriate than in this match. St.Mirren knew this and the introduction of McMullan for Howieson certainly gave them more of a cutting edge. Mallan almost scored with an audacious effort from just inside the Falkirk half when he saw Rogers off his line. Falkirk looked on the back foot. A series of corners was defended with determination as the

pressure on the Bairns defence was turned up.

The game had similarities to the first encounter in Paisley, when one side came back from a two goal deficit. Falkirk were the side who did it then, and who knows what might

have happened if St Mirren had scored an early second half goal this time around?

Referee Aiken became a figure of some controversy with his brandishing of cards, but there was a big debate over his seventh red of this season. Jack Baird handled the ball when he blocked McHugh’s chance of a breakaway. It was clearly a hand ball, but many would have debated the colour of the card which the official produced, after consulting his assistant.

The third and final strike came from Will Vaulks and it was an absolute screamer.

He fired in an unstoppable long-range thunderbolt that stunned Langfield. He has done this so often that we have come to expect it- and the gymnastics that followed would not have been out of place in Glasgow at the World Championships.

There was even more horror for the black and white Buddies when Craig Reid was dismissed for hauling O’Hara down, 24 hours into his Saints career.

This was a classic example of what really matters in terms of match statistics. Possession, corners, shots, shots on target- are all very well, but what really matters is goals.