Falkirk FC Monday verdict: Resolve, relief and revenge!

It was celebrated like Falkirk had won the World Cup – but this was the biggest Bairns result since before this summer’s World Cup in Russia.

There’s not been a relief like it since last season and the night safety was secured at St Mirren.

WATCH: Falkirk players celebrate Rudden’s goal and full-time at Dunfermline

Infact this was better. This was revenge, resolve and relief rolled into one engrossing 90 minute spell.

Cheering to the rafters as Darren Taylor lifted every first team player he could lay his hands on, every Bairn deserved the plaudits from the away end – even regular fall-guys Paul Paton and Scott Harrison.

Infact particularly the much maligned duo. They were superb in a really driven Bairns performance intent on righting the wrongs of the previous encounter between the sides.

The home humbling wasn’t forgotten, and Saturday was not absolution, but it’s the first meaningful step towards it.

Having dismissed Dunfermline, Falkirk can move off the bottom with a win over Partick Thistle this week. And that’s exciting in itself.

LEAGUE TABLE: SPFL Championship

Just last week Ray McKinnon was employing a sturdy, pragmatic approach to prise points out of this Championship season.

On Saturday his side showed more and battled for those points, and stepping away from the pragmatism for just one second, Zak Rudden fired a stunner from distance that caught east End Park off guard.

Most importantly it caught Dunfermline and goalkeeper Lee Robinson off guard and nestled nicely in the net once it came back to ground from it’s 30-yard zip through the chilly November air.

A goal from nothing and three points from a probable one.

LISTEN: What the managers said

It was a goal worht celebrating, and a win worth celebrating too, and the Bairns did, because their efforts had been rewarded off the park and on it.

The visiting support for a side languishing at the foot of the second tier was incredible. The noise generated formiddable. And there can be no dopubt the backing boosted the Bairns. Only falling silent for the well-observed minute of Remembrance and Last Post the Falkirk fans were a credit to the club and a crutch to the players. They had belief and the players gained it.

From within a minute the Bairns were battling and Leo Fasan, another of the maligned players in Falkirk’s squad, came to the rescue, beating away Kallum Higginbotham’s drive and then gathering the rebound from Andy Ryan.

Fasan would go on to make a series of important blocks on his return to the side, and he’d have had more to do had his defence not put their bodies on the line. Ray McKinnon’s new structure suits the Bairns and once Tommy Robson untangled himself from the defensive shackles the Pars put on him in the first half he began to have more and more influence.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Dunfermline 0 Falkirk 1 - matchday blog

His opposite wing-back Lewis Kidd stepped up too but all too often their forays forward found only Rudden in the danger areas with the rest of the Bairns mucking into the midfield skirmish.

It was tight and tousy, but Rudden’s rocket eased the pressure, opened the valve and the Bairns let it all come roaring out at full-time.