Falkirk full-back Leon McCann says Scottish Cup semi-final exit to Dunfermline is career low

A 6-0 defeat against Queen’s Park. Giving away a penalty in the opening minutes of a Scottish Cup semi-final. A 6-2 play-off first leg loss at Airdrie.

Leon McCann’s suffered some tough days as a Falkirk player. And he’s came through all of them to establish himself as one of the Bairns’ top performers in the Scottish Premiership. But the defender admits that he won’t be able to put Saturday’s Scottish Cup exit to Dunfermline behind him for a “long, long time”. The full-back admitted that losing to the second-tier Pars on penalties at Hampden in the semi final was a career low.

John McGlynn’s side headed to the national stadium as favourites to beat their rivals having secured a their top-six berth in the top-flight with a game to spare. But they fell way short. A goalless 180 minutes highlighted a Falkirk performance lacking quality and character. And the shoot-out that followed was a disaster.

Leon McCann admits cup exit is career low

“It’s as gutted as I’ve probably been in football,” McCann said. “Emotions are still raw, so I have to watch what I say... But I'm just gutted for everybody: the coaching staff, the players, the fans. We deserved to reach a final with how we've played this season. We wanted to come and show a good account of ourselves. We had a lot of the ball but never really did anything with it. Then you go to penalties, it’s a lottery. I can't really be too harsh on the penalty takers. We win as a team, we lose as a team, but overall I’m just extremely gutted for everybody involved. These opportunities don’t come around often.

“This one’s worse (than the 2023 defeat to Inverness). First time around, we were in League One playing against a Championship team. We were a good team but I don’t think a lot of people had a lot of hope for us getting through. We did well, we rode our luck with the draw and things like that. But obviously this time around, you put Hearts out, you put Dundee United out, and you’re probably the favourites going into this one. But all of that goes out the window when it’s a semi-final derby tie. This one definitely hurts more. It’s an opportunity missed.

“I can’t speak for the boys, but I don’t think any of them will forget this. I won’t. The hurt that we’re feeling right now... we’re so used to winning, and for the past three years it’s been so positive. We just need to learn from it and hopefully we get another chance to go to a semi-final and do one better in a final because these don’t come around often, so when they do come you need to take the chance.”

Popular duo Spencer and Henderson will bear the brunt of the guilt after they failed to covert from 12 yards in the shoot-out - but McCann was quick to absolve his team-mates of blame. He says that they won’t get “any scrutiny” for being the first two to put their hands up and take a pressure penalty.

“No matter what we say to them now, it’s not going to help the situation for them,” the defender explained. “We’ll try our best to keep them as positive as possible, but you know in that situation, no matter what anybody says, it isn’t going to help right now.

“But the two of them are manly enough to step up. Brad being the captain and stepping up first, and then Hendo following up. When we look back at this game, we will analyse the 120 minutes, not the penalties because it’s just a 50-50. So, we’ve told them to keep their heads up. Big players miss penalties. They’re not going to get any scrutiny from any of us and shouldn’t get any scrutiny from anyone. They were man enough to step up and take them.”

Crushed, McCann still managed to point out that his team-mates have the chance to complete the campaign on a high. The final five Premiership outings start this Saturday away to Celtic - and the Bairns still have an outside chance of hunting down Hibs and European football.

He said: “We’ve got five games left. Three at home. There’s still a lot to play for. We’re not the type, and we’ve never been the type to say that we have nothing to play for or let’s just down tools. The gaffer would never let that stand anyway, and we as a team won't let that stand. We’ve got a big part to play in this title race and a big part to play in hopefully catching fifth place. That’s the aim. You always try and aim upwards until it’s mathematically impossible. We’ve got five big games coming up, so we need to pick ourselves up fairly quickly. We won’t forget about this, absolutely not. This will hurt for a long, long time.”