Falkirk FC boss John McGlynn hails Scott Arfield's amazing impact since arriving in February

McGlynn, whose side are on the verge of William Hill Championship title glory as they are eight points clear of second-placed Livingston with just four games left, told the Falkirk Herald: “I think Scott’s signing caught the imagination of the fans and certainly probably gave our players a boost.

"That was the feeling behind it, the fact that he's chipped in with so many goals in such a short period of time speaks volumes for him.

"Because he's obviously played at a very high level and coming down to this level, you know, he could easily have maybe just gone through the motions. But no, he's been great, in the dressing room and scoring the goals.

"He can only brush on to the other players, the way he finishes, these goals that he's finished.

"It has to, as I say, brush off onto other players like Brad (Spencer) and Dylan (Tait), Aidan Nesbitt, even like Calvin Miller and Ethan Ross.

"You know, they've all had opportunities to score goals and a lot of them end in row Z. And you see Scott, how clinical he is and how composed he is when he's finishing. I'm hoping that's just going to help everyone with regards to that.

"I think it has actually and Scott's been first class. I'm delighted last week when he got his 100th goal. Getting his first goal in professional football at Falkirk and then to get his 100th. A bit special indeed.”

Falkirk continue their league campaign at third-placed Ayr United tomorrow (Friday) evening in a 7.45pm kick-off at Ayr United. A Bairns victory there – coupled with Livingston failing to win at Greenock Morton this Saturday – would seal the championship for Falkirk and a place in the Scottish Premiership for the first time since 2010.

McGlynn said: “It's a huge game, a difficult game. Scotty Brown will have United well fired up.

"They are running out of opportunities now. They've got ourselves this week and then they've got Livingston the following week, so they're really two tough games. And for them still to have a chance, they know that they're going to have to win these two games.

"So I know that we all need to do. We all need to be at it tomorrow night.

"We're not going to get down there and they roll out the red carpet for us. We all need to fight and scratch and fight for everything we possibly can get in that game.

"We go into it in good form, though. We played really well last week against Morton, played some great football, but every game's different.

"And and the pitch there, maybe it'll be repaired with the good weather we've had.

"The last game they played against Dunfermline, it was in a bit of a state. Hopefully, a couple of weeks on, some good weather, hopefully the pitch is a bit better than it was as well.

"We respect Ayr United so much and Scotty, and we understand that we all need to be at our best to come out of there with the win that we want.”

A good week for McGlynn has seen him tie up Tom Lang, Gary Oliver and Alfredo Agyeman on contract extensions.

He said: “Yeah, that's virtually nearly everyone now signed, although we've got a lot of loan players who will go back at the end of the season to their clubs.

"But I think it speaks volumes for the football club. I think everyone's really enjoying their football, enjoying the way we play.

"The guys all enjoy each other, they're a great group, which, again, has really helped us throughout the season, taking on from last season, the Invincible season. All the guys went away on holiday, as they do, and they had a really good time and they come back ready to go in pre-season and it's just kind of like continued.

"So that team spirit showed here with the guys, Alfie, Tom and Gary, extending contracts. I’m delighted.”

McGlynn, who has a full bill of health for the Ayr game other than injured centre-back Darragh O’Connor, said he won’t be at the Morton-Livingston game on Saturday as he’ll be attending Raith Rovers v Airdrieonians.