John McGlynn hopes ‘fine margins’ go Falkirk’s way as they travel to familiar foes Livingston in Scottish Premiership.

Falkirk gaffer John McGlynn hopes football’s “fine margins” go his side’s way this Saturday when they travel to familiar foes Livingston in their second Scottish Premiership outing.

The Bairns drew 2-2 with Dundee United last weekend and now make the short trip to the Home of the Set Fare Arena for their maiden top-flight away day hoping to finally get the better of David Martindale’s outfit.

Last season’s Scottish Championship title success didn’t have many blemishes - but the Bairns record against the Lions was about as bad as it can get. On their two visits to West Lothian, they lost 1-0. On home turf, they drew 0-0 and lost 2-1 with Livingston unbeaten in three against them.

McGlynn: Fine margins last season

“They got the better of us obviously. There is no denying that,” McGlynn admitted. “Every game against them had fine margins. I don’t expect it to be any different this weekend. We need to try and get those margins on our side. There was nothing in the games at all. A wee break there and a decision there. Things could have been different. They’ve made a lot of signings but when you looked at their starting eleven last week - there weren't loads of changes. We haven’t changed much, we just need to find that edge.

“We can’t do much worse than we did last year against them. We can only do better there than last season (two 1-0 defeats). Yengi has scored one of two goals for the season against us and the last game had 0-0 written all over it. They hit a free-kick that smashed off the bar and Shinnie put it over the line from a yard out after the ball landed for him. The points could have easily swung in our favour.”

On thing that will go in Falkirk’s favour is Livingston’s brand new artificial surface. The Lions have replaced their aged surface with one akin to the Bairns. And that is a benefit to every team in the top flight, according to McGlynn.

Livingston’s new pitch benefits everyone

He said: “I am not coming up against a poor pitch. They have a new pitch now. It is going to be a benefit to everyone, Livingston included in that. It will be nice to play on a proper pitch. It will be new (Livi’s surface). It will be slower. There will be a lot of pellets on it, they are green now so it won’t be as noticeable. It won’t get as much as criticism with the black pellets and all of them coming up during a game. I think the trick clearly is to spend another 50k to get green pellets to take the pressure off!"

Martindale’s team also gained a point on the opening weekend, drawing 2-2 away to Kilmarnock. McGlynn took in that match - and he reckons Livingston should have won it.

“Livingston are decent,” he added. “They played well down at Rugby Park. If I am David Martindale at half time I am mystified as to how my team are two goals down. I thought they dominated the match but made a couple of errors. As soon as they got the goal back, and Killie went down to ten men, it was a case of whether they were going to win 3-2 or not. They only managed to get the one goal back but I was impressed with them.”

Meanwhile, on the injury front, McGlynn confirmed that the Bairns had no new worries with Sean Mackie back and available for selection.