Falkirk fall to another late goal shocker as Partick Thistle put the pressure on Scottish Championship leaders

With Sean Mackie missing through suspension and Coll Donaldson out for the remainder of the campaign, manager John McGlynn brought Leon McCann in from in the cold to slot in at left-back with Tom Lang partnering Coll Donaldson in the heart of defence. Up front, Gary Oliver dropped to the bench for Ross MacIver - who hasn’t managed a league goal since the 2-0 away win at Raith Rovers back in January.

In the opening stages, McCann had a couple of decent moments, and the Bairns looked bright. But they handed Thistle an early lead after a shocker from usually-dependable Lang. With six minutes on the clock, interim player-boss Brian Graham had the simple task of scoring past Nicky Hogarth when he was presented with the ball in the six-yard box. From a Falkirk goal-kick, Keelan Adams’ pass back to Lang put the centre-back under pressure and a horror touch allowed Aidan Fitzpatrick to sweep the ball into the path of his striker.

The Bairns responded well to going a goal down. They got on the ball and slowly found their feet. After a couple of corner kicks - and some neat play by Calvin Miller who constantly posed a threat - Kanayo Megwa was forced to clear the ball off the line as the pressure ramped up.

In-form Miller should have levelled the match after twenty minutes when he burst through out wide, collecting Brad Spencer’s lofted through pass, but he couldn’t find the back of the net on the angle when he had the option of squaring the ball to his team-mate MacIver.

The first yellow card of what was a feisty encounter came when Stuart Bannigan wiped out Miller in the middle of the park, and that moment would turn out to be significant. With Falkirk continuing to put the pressure on, Bannigan only lasted six minutes before he was sent off, handing the Bairns a massive boost. His push on Tait was soft but petulant and referee Matthew MacDermid felt he had no choice but to hand the midfielder his marching orders.

And with just over ten minutes until the break, Falkirk took complete control with the match exclusively played in the Thistle defensive third. Scott Arfield sent a warning sign soon after when he forced David Mitchell into a smart stop with his boot at the near post.

The equaliser finally came after 39 minutes. Camped in their own box, Thistle allowed McCann to loft the ball into the box and MacIver did extremely well to cushion the ball down into the path of goal-specialist Arfield. The veteran made no mistake on the half-volley to fire home a crucial leveller.

In the second half, Falkirk didn’t quite match the same speed and ingenuity that they finished the opening period with. Thistle would have been pleased with the lack of clear cut chances early on for the visitors. It took until 65 minutes for the Bairns to fashion an opportunity. Ethan Ross was given time to shoot from range and his curling effort wasn’t too far away from nestling into the bottom corner.

The likes of Miller Thomson and Barney Stewart came on as the Bairns looked for a second - but it just wasn’t coming. Considering they had ten men, Thistle looked fairly comfortable heading into the final stages. And with eight minutes remaining, substitute Alfredo Agyeman was sent off for a desperate lunge on Robbie Crawford as he looked to keep an attack alive. It didn’t feel like a tackle worthy of a red card mind you.

Falkirk pushed for a late winner, and they were the side on top despite both teams being down ten. Lang saw a header fly wide from a Miller cross late on, but outwith that little happened in front of goal. However, late drama was to come.

Thistle, with the six minutes of injury-time up, found a late winner. Substitute Terry Ablade was in the right place at the right time to stoop low and head home. For Falkirk, it was another late goal shocker. The title is still in Falkirk’s hands - but goodness, it almost feels like they are trying to throw it away. That’s 11 points dropped in five games. Simply unacceptable.

Partick Thistle v Falkirk: Team line-ups and match information

Partick Thistle: Mitchell, Megwa, Ashcroft, O’Reilly, McBeth, Kelly, Bannigan, Crawford, Fitzpatrick, Chalmers, Graham (6’).

Subs: Budinauckas, Reid, Rooney, Lockhart, MacKenzie, Stanway, Turner, Lawless, Ablade (97’).

Falkirk: Hogarth, Adams, Lang, Henderson, McCann, Spencer, Tait, Arfield (39’), Ross, Miller, MacIver.

Subs: Munro, O’Connor, Graham, Yeats, Nesbitt, Thomson, Oliver, Agyeman, Stewart.

Referee: Matthew MacDermid.

Attendance: 4,997.