Falkirk face defensive injury frustration with three key players ruled out for Celtic trip

Falkirk will be without “three key players” for this Saturday’s trip to Celtic as the Scottish Premiership post-split fixture card gets underway.

Manager John McGlynn confirmed ahead of this weekend’s clash that goalkeeper Scott Bain, centre-back Liam Henderson and Swansea City loan star Filip Lissah will all be missing due to injury.

The Bairns lost out to rivals Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup semi final last weekend at Hampden, having played 120 minutes against Neil Lennon’s second-tier side before crashing out on penalties. But there’s still so much to play for going into the final five league outings with Falkirk sitting only five points behind Hibs with the race for European football still on.

Bairns’ backline hit by injury crisis

“We've hit a real injury blow,” boss McGlynn revealed. “Scott Bain is going to be out, Liam Henderson is going to be out and Filip Lissah is going to be out. These are three key players for us that have picked up injuries from the game last Saturday on top of Louie Marsh and Ethan Williams. These players have played virtually every game. They're guys that are first picks. So it's a huge blow to lose them for going away to Celtic Park which is always a hard game anyway.

“Liam Henderson has got a little bit of a hamstring injury. Not too serious but it's not cleared up enough in time for Saturday. Filip has been nursing something on his ankle which has showed up a little bit in the MRI scan. We'll need to manage him between now and the end of the season. He's not going to be able to play this week. He might be able to come back in towards the end of the following week. He might be able to give us something between now and the end of the season. He's been huge. The fans think a lot of him, as they do of all the players. We would want a situation where he can say goodbye to the fans. Hopefully he's going to go back down to Swansea and play his football with Swansea. The three players have been magnificent so it is a huge blow.”

With stopper Bain hoping to make Steve Clarke’s World Cup squad, McGlynn added that the goalkeeper shouldn’t have any worries about missing out on the squad due to injury. He reckons that the 34-year-old will be back before the end of the season.

“Scott hurt his ankle and got a scan on it,” McGlynn said. “There's nothing broken but there's a little bit of bone bruising and it's a bit tender. It's not straightforward. I would like to hope not (that he would miss the World Cup). I don't think it's going to go into the summer. If anything it might be a two or three week thing. He might still be able to get a game in before the end of the season. Fingers-crossed.”

The boss also confirmed that captain Coll Donaldson was back fit but he nailed down Connor Allan as starter this Saturday and said that Hearts loanee Lewis Neilson was in with a shout of starting, saying he could have a “very young defence” playing against Martin O’Neill’s side.

One player who is guaranteed a start is No 2 Nicky Hogarth. The goalkeeper kept a clean sheet on his one top-flight start this term against Dundee. He also came on against Aberdeen earlier in the campaign and kept a shutout. He’s previously played at Celtic Park for the Bairns and McGlynn says that he is happy with his goalkeeping situation - with no plans to recall Jamie Sneddon from his loan at Queen of the South.

He said: “Queen of the South have got play-offs to play for. I think it's best for him just to settle there. We've got young Joe Hastings. We could end up in a St Mirren situation if something happens to Nicky. Hopefully not. Then we've got young Joe, who for 16 years of age, he's a top goalkeeper. But that would be something else if that happened Nicky is no slouch. He's a good goalkeeper. He's very, very good with the ball at his feet. We'll not be too disadvantaged. He's very good with the ball at his feet.”