Falkirk boss John McGlynn on pleasing 'step up' during Raith Rovers friendly win and double injury blow

Falkirk manager John McGlynn hailed his side’s second-half “step up” as they chalked up a 4-2 pre-season friendly win over Raith Rovers on Saturday afternoon.

The Bairns found themselves a goal down to Barry Robson’s team after Lewis Vaughan’s opener but Ethan Ross’ brave leveller and Brian Graham’s smart strike turned the match around before the hour mark. Jordan Doherty equalised for the visitors but once again the home side battled back with a sweet strike from Brad Spencer and a well-worked Ross MacIver goal sealing the victory.

McGlynn delighted with Falkirk performance

“I thought the performance was really good,” McGlynn beamed. “Everyone played their part and it was a good team performance. We had four different goalscorers and we looked a real threat throughout the 90 minutes. The downside was that we’ve conceded two goals from very little. We have to be better. We get caught out by a long ball over the top for the first goal. Ethan Ross scores a similar goal to the first one Raith scored. He did well to put himself on the line to get in and score. Their second goal sees Scott Bain ends up in no man’s land and it is a free header. We asked the players to raise the standards in the second half and I thought we got that step up. The second goal is a really good goal. It is a great well-timed ball from Dylan Tait and a great run from Brian Graham. He put the ball in the exact position to score. Brad Spencer takes his goal really well and it was nice to see us move from transition and score by going up the park. The fourth sees Alfie (Agyeman) make another good run and he puts across a good ball for Ross MacIver to score.”

The boss was pleased not only with the performance but the type of opposition it came against, adding: “We could have scored six. It was a step up in quality. It wasn’t a pre-season friendly, you could see that from some of the tackles. Raith let us know they were there. Raith press high and aggressively and that is why I wanted to play them - that is the type of challenge we will face from Premiership teams. We will need to play against that. We rallied well and the attitude shown was brilliant.”

Falkirk injury update not a good one from manager McGlynn

Meanwhile, McGlynn confirmed that striker Barney Stewart is set to miss the start of the season having suffered a serious injury having now also lost midfielder Finn Yeats for a period of time. Captain Coll Donaldson is also still further away than expected and is unlikely to play anytime soon.

He said: “Barney (Stewart) has a fractured fifth metatarsal. It not a nice injury. We are talking about months rather than weeks. Finn (Yeats) has a similar injury but it is not as severe. His is not as bad. They are both going to be seen by an orthopaedic surgeon. “It is a vague for Coll (Donaldson). If you listen to Coll then he will be back in a couple of weeks. If you listen to the physios then he is still a bit away. Coll is a warrior and he’s go on the park with half a leg. But I think we will go with what the physio has said.”