Falkirk boss John McGlynn hails 'brave' Celtic performance despite defeat but concedes European hopes are slim

John McGlynn hailed a “brave” Falkirk showing against Celtic after his injury-hit side lost out 3-1 to the Scottish Premiership champions on Saturday evening.

The Bairns found themselves two goals down at the break with a makeshift backline after Daizen Maeda and Kieran Tierney’s strikes - but the visitors rallied in the second half and got a goal back through substitute Kyrell Wilson after a strong spell. The Swansea City loanee unleashed a stunning volley past Viljami Sinisalo to give his team-mates hope but Japanese forward Maeda made sure of the three points late on with his second goal of the game.

And although Falkirk found themselves on the end of another poor result against the Hoops - boss McGlynn was pleased overall with the performance.

John McGlynn hails ‘brave’ Celtic performance

“I thought we were very brave,” he said. “We asked the players to be brave. We felt disappointment last weekend, and we lost too many goals in the second half against Rangers. Mentally, this was a big, big challenge. A huge challenge. I think the players did remarkably well to be 2-0 down at half-time to come out for the second half the way they did. A lot of teams would have buckled and that could have been a five or six. But I think we were so brave getting the goal back. We were on top of the game at that point. I would have liked to have got a second. But we looked a little tired toward the end in regards to their third goal, we just couldn’t get to Maeda. I'm so pleased with the response that we've got from last weekend. I think, looking at the stats and what I felt in the game, there wasn't a lot in it.”

Full-back Keelan Adams made a massive error for Celtic’s opener, allowing Maeda to nick the ball and score past Nicky Hogarth. Aston Villa loanee Ben Broggio also suffered a similar fate - losing the ball in the middle of the park to the forward, who set off Tierney to score on the stroke of half time. And McGlynn admitted that the concession of cheap goals once again plagued his side.

He added: “We've got caught on the ball for the first two goals. Keelan is slack on the ball. We know, we go over things before it. You can’t do that. Maeda did the same thing last weekend against St Mirren. Obviously, you go over these things in analysis. We shouldn't get caught on the ball there. Young Ben (Broggio) has also taken a ball in that area and lost it. So, again, for him, it's a big step up, playing against a Celtic team very much up for it today - they were 100 mile an hour. It’s a big step up for so many of our players but I think they got over that and showed how good they can be, particularly in that second half. We had three big players missing for us today (Bain, Lissah, Henderson) but the ones that stepped in did really well. I'm really pleased with the team. We did lose cheap goals. But that was the response that I was looking for today. And I'm really pleased with that.”

Wilson’s wonder strike was just his third top-flight goal for Falkirk since joining the Bairns on loan back in August, and McGlynn hailed what was a brilliant effort - although he wished that the winger hadn’t blown a similar opportunity against Dunfermline last weekend in the Scottish Cup semi final.

McGlynn said: “He had a similar chance last weekend (against Dunfermline) and put it out of the park... if he had done that then, we could have been sitting in a Scottish Cup final. It was a remarkable goal. Great goal, great ball. He hits it so well. When you make changes and something comes from it then you're pleased. But I was pleased with the whole team basically.”

Falkirk face tough task to catch Hibs

The former Hearts manager will now be hoping for a favour from the Tynecastle leaders when they travel to Easter Road tomorrow for the Edinburgh Derby. If Hibs win that match, they would go eight points clear of the Bairns with just four matches remaining, and McGlynn concedes that overturning that points tally would be a step to far for his newly-promoted team.

“It's depends on results,” the boss said when asked what Falkirk’s goal was for the final four. ‘If Hibs win tomorrow, that gap becomes eight - which is quite a difficult task to try and then get European football. The task is obviously to try and catch Hibs and try and get above Hibs. We've got Hibs coming to the Falkirk Stadium in a couple of games. We've got Motherwell next weekend. And I know that Motherwell will be well up for it because I think we've probably done the best against Motherwell in the league. If you look across the results that they've had, I think we've probably done the best against them. So I know quite naturally that they will be wanting to try and get one over on us. But if we can go and win that game and put some pressure on Hibs, then that outside chance of a European place is still there. And of course there's a lot of ifs and buts and maybes still to go with that. But that's what we have to go for.

“We've shown great mentality today. We've shown that we're not going to just throw the towel in. And we need to learn from games like this. We're coming back here to Celtic in the top six. I'm absolutely delighted to say that. We've got to learn from every time we come here. And Ibrox and all the ten castles and wherever else. So it's still a huge learning curve for all of these players. And that development is really, really important.”