Stirlingshire Cup: Falkirk retain trophy after 3-1 win over Stenhousemuir in final

Falkirk manager John McGlynn reckons their is “room for improvement” from his side as they ramp up their pre-season schedule after retaining the Stirlingshire Cup on Tuesday night.

The Bairns beat Stenhousemuir 3-1 at the Falkirk Stadium with goals from Alfredo Agyeman, Ross MacIver and Brian Graham ensuring that the trophy would stay with John McGlynn’s team for another year following the conclusion of this year’s tournament.

Falkirk also played NIFL Premiership outfit Larne in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Monday, winning that clash 3-2, and it’s been a busy start to pre-season with games to follow against Edinburgh City, East Fife, Raith Rovers and St Johnstone before the Premier Sports Cup group stages get underway next month.

McGlynn sees room for improvement

“We have now played tonight, yesterday against Larne behind closed doors, and two 60-minute games on Saturday,” McGlynn said. “It has been an intense start and I think that showed a little bit tonight, we weren’t at our fluent best and our quality was lacking. We got a good start to the game. The goal came from something we have been working on with the goalkeeper’s distribution. Nicky (Hogarth) plays the ball for Alfie (Agyeman) to run onto and he does well to score. Nicky has had one save to make in that first half but it was scrappy. Ross MacIver’s goal was a great strike and once we went 2-0 up I was hoping that we would have gone on to win more convincingly. We conceded a poor goal that was an error. There’s room for improvement. I was happy for Brian Graham getting his goal too. The guys will get a well deserved rest now after being so at it. Did everything I wanted to see come out tonight? Probably not but the fatigue from working so hard over the past week or so is fair. The boys are all excited to get to start of the season proper but we need to get there properly and we are doing that.”

The moment of the match came five minutes before the break when MacIver picked up the ball 25 yards from and unleashed a spectacular strike past Warriors’ goalkeeper Darren Jamieson. And McGlynn believes that the striker, 26, will take “so much confidence” from his showing. MacIver managed seven goals last term but struggled to get back to best after an injury suffered at Celtic Park.

McGlynn added: “If you are a striker then you want to be scoring goals. It was an amazing strike. I don’t think he’ll score a better goal than that, he went close with one like that before last season. When the ball goes in like that it makes it more memorable. He will take so much confidence from that strike and his overall performance.”

Gray injury could be ‘major blow’ for Stenhousemuir

Meanwhile, Stenhousemuir’s assistant manager Brown Ferguson was pleased with his players’ effort and attitude on the night despite the scoreline. The Warriors got a goal back in the second half through their trialist substitute and managed to stifle Scottish Premiership-bound Falkirk for long spells.

“I think we have to be happy with the performance,” he said. “The first goal was poor from our point of view but the second was a wonder-strike and the third was a bit of luck. Outwith the goals, they didn’t cut us open too much, although they did have the ball for most of it. But they are a very good team. Our defensive shape was good and we did carry a threat too. It was superb run-out considering we’ve had three training sessions so far. We look fit and the attitude shown to the game was different class. There is more to come from the group for sure.”

One disappointment for the Ochilview side was the injury sustained to new signing Finlay Gray, who impressed before having to go off.

“He got into the game at the right times and you can see what type of player he is,” Ferguson said. “He showed that ability and appetite to work hard too. The downside is that he has had to go to hospital after taking that hit before going off. He has landed awkwardly and he is getting his shoulder checked out. That could be a major blow but hopefully it is nothing serious.”

Falkirk 3-1 Stenhousemuir team lines

Falkirk: Hogarth, Adams, Lang, Mackie, McCann, Nesbitt, Oliver, Walker, Agyeman (3’), MacIver (40’), Graham (67’).

Subs: Bain, Yeats, Stewart, Tait, Miller, McCafferty, McCrone, Arfield, Aitchison.

Stenhousemuir: Jamieson, Meechan, Buchanan, Trialist 5, Ewen, O’Reilly, Anderson, McGill, Gray, O’Donnell, Aitken.

Subs: Trialist 24, Taylor, Bilham, Trialist 12 (64’), Trialist 26, Trialist 27.

Referee: Stewart Luke.

Attendance: 1,437.

FH POTM: Ross MacIver.