Connor Allan admits Falkirk fell way short against Dunfermline after painful penalty defeat

Connor Allan couldn’t find the words to describe the disappointment he felt after watching Falkirk suffer penalty pain against rivals Dunfermline at Hampden on Saturday.

The makeshift centre-back has enjoyed a coming-of-age season in the Scottish Premiership so far. And he finally got his chance to show what he can do in the Bairns’ backline again when the Scottish Cup semi-final came around. With captain Coll Donaldson ruled out - ex-Rangers ace Allan earned a recall to the starting eleven after a period on the bench.

But his national stadium experience was one to forgot, despite being one of the better performers in Navy Blue. John McGlynn’s side couldn’t find a way past the Pars, and after a goalless 180 minutes, Falkirk suffered shoot-out heartbreak. Having been substituted in extra-time, Allan had to watch from the sidelines as the Bairns blew their Scottish Cup dream - with Brad Spencer and Liam Henderson failing to covert from 12 yards.

Connor Allan explains why Falkirk lost out

It says so much about Allan that the 22-year-old was one of two Falkirk players who offered themselves up to speak to the press after the match. He was first out too.

Gutted, he admitted: "It was tough to take. I don't think we did enough in 120 minutes to win the game and when it went to penalties and it wasn't great... they had that chance early on (Callumn Morrison’s effort) and I think after that we ended up getting quite a good foothold in the game without having that cutting edge. We penned them in for a bit. But we have to admit there wasn't enough all over the pitch. Why was that the case? Decision making. We were too slow on the ball. We lost too many duels all over the pitch. And that was the whole team. I think we lacked a bit of quality at times. There weren't enough of us on our game. We win as a team and we lose as a team. We are all in this together. We have to hold our hands up and admit that we just weren't good enough.”

Allan and his Falkirk team-mates now face the tough task of refocusing on the Premiership with five games remaining. The split gets underway this weekend, and it couldn’t be much harder for the Bairns with a trip to Celtic first up. A fifth-placed finish isn’t out of the question - but with Hibs five points clear it would take a monumental effort.

The versatile midfielder says however that Falkirk will “regroup” and that being on the losing end of a Hampden showdown has made him even hungrier to reach that stage again.

He added: "It's definitely a learning experience for me. I want to go back to Hampden to play in those type of games again. I just need to take this on the chin and work hard in training and work hard in games and see if I can get more of those big games in future. It was very tough to be in the dressing room after getting beat. To lose to your rivals is never good. We just need to dust ourselves off. We have five big and tough games and we need to be ready. We will regroup and be ready for the remaining games."