Falkirk boss John McGlynn admits Dundee United deserved a point from 1-1 draw

Falkirk boss John McGlynn admitted that Dundee United deserved a point from Saturday’s Scottish Premiership encounter at Tannadice.

The Bairns hit the front early on after Jacob Murrell grabbed his first Falkirk goal, heading home from a Ryan Strain corner kick after just four minutes. And the away side dominated the early proceedings against Jim Goodwin’s side.

But they couldn’t build on a strong opening half an hour - with United slowly taking control. The second half saw the visitors get deeper and deeper. The Bairns had no shots on target after the break, and they in truth were knackered and holding on for dear life.

Scotland hopeful Scott Bain made a string of brilliant saves to deny United, but the hosts eventually grabbed a late leveller when defender Michael Forbes headed home at the back post from Abdoulaye Yoro’s cross.

John McGlynn admits Falkirk can’t complain after draw

“If I am being honest, I can't complain that Dundee United took something out of that game because they put a lot into the game,” McGlynn admitted after the 1-1 draw.

“It was a bit frustrating, yeah. I thought we started the game really, really well on the front foot. Jacob's got his goal, which is great for him. Obviously, everyone knows he missed a couple of chances the other night there, so off to a flying start.

“We had other opportunities that maybe we could have increased the scoreline because we were well on top. However, it didn’t last. Maybe 20-25 minutes, half an hour at max,then Dundee United kind of like took over and had us pinned back for basically the rest of the game.

“It was so disappointing to lose (a goal) so late, considering we defended so much and, what we didn’t defend, Scott Bain made top saves.”

The boss added: “I think playing Celtic at Celtic Park, then Rangers the other night there, coming into this game, it takes a lot of your energy in different ways and I just thought we looked tired after that opening 20 minutes or so.

“We tried to freshen that up, but they had kind of took over by that time and it was quite difficult to get a grip of the game, actually. So it was just a matter of whether we could see out and, unfortunately, we didn’t.

“The positives are there for us to build on and we've been kind of doing that. It was probably just too big an ask. I know we all played midweek games, but we all know it's different playing the Old Firm.”

Liam Henderson given all clear after head injury

Meanwhile, centre-back Liam Henderson was forced off during the second half after suffering a cut on his head following a late challenge.

And that forced gaffer McGlynn into an immediate change with Latvian international Deniss Meļņiks coming on for the final period of the match in defence.

“I immediately got the reaction from the doctor,” McGlynn explained. “He signalled that he should come off. I mean, Hendo is a little bit frustrated.

“You wouldn't know he's got a cut now because obviously there's no blood. It's tidied up and he's not needed any stitches or anything so far that I know of.

“So he was a bit gutted but that was the indication I got. I thought big Deniss actually did very well, considering you wouldn't really want to disrupt that area of the pitch clearly.

“Hendo is a key player. He's been playing that position for us for so many games in a row. But he's fine.”