John McGlynn concedes 'biggest challenge yet' as Falkirk boss after Premier Sports Cup shocker
John McGlynn concedes 'biggest challenge yet' as Falkirk boss after Premier Sports Cup shocker.
John McGlynn has conceded that bedding in a new-look Falkirk squad represents his biggest challenge yet as Bairns boss after watching his side crash out of the Premier Sports Cup.
Faltering Falkirk drew 1-1 away to Scottish League One side Alloa Athletic on Tuesday night, with Andy Graham’s team picking up the bonus point after a penalty shootout.
A well-worked move handed the visitors the lead six minutes before the break with Scott Tanser scoring his first goal for the club but the home team levelled things up when Kyle Glasgow slammed home on 65 minutes following poor Falkirk play.
In the shootout, defender Liam Henderson suffered more penalty pain after last season’s Scottish Cup semi-final, allowing Ross Stewart an easy save with his spot kick to secure two points for the Wasps. Recent signing Ryan Strain also saw his effort saved by the goalkeeper.
And that result quashed any slim hopes of qualifying for the second round of the SPFL’s league cup after other results ensured that Bairns couldn’t finish as one of the three best runners-up.
John McGlynn explains ‘new challenge’
“We had to win this game to give ourselves any opportunity of reaching nine points,” McGlynn admitted. “After that you would have then been hoping that you had a better goal difference than the other teams also on nine points come Saturday evening. We still had an outside chance of qualifying at 7.45pm tonight.
“And we had an opportunity to win the match after getting our noses in front. After that, we really had to hunt down more goals and boost that goal advantage. When didn’t kill them off. We made one mistake up the other end and were punished for it. The throw in was so sloppy, and Nicky (Hogarth) should probably save the shot. We huffed and puffed.
“Alloa had the one real chance in each half, the chipped effort that Nicky did well to tip over in the first half and then the goal in the second half. The scoreline was a little bit harsh on us considering the balance of play. We deserved to win the match but we had to do that little bit more to kill them off. You can’t lose the goal that we lost.”
McGlynn added: “We’ve done well in the competition in recent years, and it does bring in more money but is money that the manager doesn’t see much of. It is more for the club.”
It’s been a tough start to the season for Falkirk despite last term’s top-six heroics. A shortened pre-season hasn’t helped and the boss admitted that he is facing a “new challenge” to bed in his much-changed squad after a raft of top performers last season either departed over the summer or returned to their parent clubs.
He explained: “We are in the biggest transitional period that we’ve had. We’ve previously been adding two or three players to what we had. We obviously had a lot more loan players than we had previously. This turnover was going to come at one point. We’ve lost Calvin (Miller), Barney (Stewart) and Dylan Tait for example, that’s three good players who are also characters.
“We have new players getting used to each other and how we work. I haven’t hidden from he fact that this is a new challenge. Normally, a pre-season for us is simple, it’s one or two sessions and bang everything is back to normal and everyone knows what they are doing. This has been a little bit more tricky, at the minute it isn’t quite clicking.
“We still have work to do but we aren’t the only ones in that situation. We’re trying to get players in top help us, guys at the top end of the pitch who would maybe have got the opportunities we created tonight into the goal. When we get that situation sorted, we will be okay. For the meantime, we need to knuckle down. We need to take care of Stranraer.”