Falkirk handed a 'wake-up call' by Edinburgh City after 3-2 friendly defeat to Scottish League Two outfit

The Bairns’ Scottish Premiership-bound squad have been handed a “wee bit of a wake-up call” after losing 3-2 to Edinburgh City in a pre-season friendly on Saturday afternoon, reckons assistant manager Paul Smith.

Falkirk found themselves three goals down to the Scottish League Two visitors after half an hour - with each goal coming from lacklustre defending. Tom Lang in particular had a day to forgot, being at fault in some way for all three goals.

A second-half comeback of sorts saw John McGlynn’s side swiftly claw the game back to 3-2 thanks to a neat Scott Arfield finish and an own goal, but they couldn’t find another goal. It was a poor day in both boxes for the Bairns with a number of gilt-edged chances being passed up by the likes of Ross MacIver and Brian Graham in attack.

Falkirk handed ‘wake up call’ by Citizens

“We’ve been delighted with the way our pre-season has gone so far but today was a wee wake-up call for the group,” Smith said. “That’s our fifth game and before today we had played consistently well. But today we didn’t defend well enough as a whole team. Added to that, we missed so many chances up the other end. The first-half performance and the goals we lost were so disappointing. We had some great chances too that we have to score from - Brian Graham has a header right in front of goal. The defending was poor but we should have still been going in at half time having scored at least a couple of chances.

“In the second half, we’ve had so, so many chances. We managed to get a couple of goals back early on but over the piece we had enough opportunities to win the match easily. We need to be more ruthless in both boxes. We created so many chances, we had 40-odd crosses go into the box and we haven’t made anything of them. The players, and the coaching team, have learned a fair bit today. The group has had a lot of praise from myself and the manager but today is a wee kick up the backside. We’ll be ready come the trip to Brechin City in two weeks time. I would rather get that first-half performance out of the way now.”

The Bairns now travel to Dick Campbell’s East Fife on Tuesday night before hosting Raith Rovers at home on Saturday afternoon. The following week sees pre-season rounded off with a trip to St Johnstone on the Tuesday night ahead of the Premier Sports Cup group stages kicking off with the trip to Highland League side Brechin City on Saturday, July 12.

Falkirk 2-3 Edinburgh City: Match information

Falkirk: Bain, Yeats, Lang, Mackie, McCann, Tait, Arfield (51’), Miller, Agyeman, MacIver, Graham.

Subs: Hogarth, Adams, Henderson, Spencer, Nesbitt, Stewart, Oliver, Allan, McCrone.

Edinburgh City: Trialist 1, Gormley, Service, Lynch, McArthur (OG 55’), Mitchell, Stokes (30’), Mahon, Ferguson, Lawson, Daramola (17’ 25’).

Subs: Marinovic, Quinn, Brodie, 20 Trialist, 25 Trialist.

Referee: Chris Graham.

FH POTM: Edin Lynch.