John McGlynn: Falkirk’s Scotland stars prove Bairns' revival is real as delighted boss eyes Livingston revenge

Falkirk boss John McGlynn reckons that his club’s recent Scotland call-ups across the age groups is a clear sign that the Bairns really are back.

Having led Falkirk to back-to-back SPFL titles, and now a strong start to life back in the Scottish Premiership with his team sitting fifth in the table, McGlynn has hailed Scott Bain, Connor Allan and Joe Hastings’ recent national team selections.

Former Celtic goalkeeper Bain, 33, joined the club from the Hoops in the summer and has been a key part of the Bairns’ success so far this campaign. He’s back in Steve Clarke’s squad after a five-year absence, and out of the three stoppers selected, Bain is the only one playing regular first-team football. A World Cup qualifiers start against Greece next Saturday wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone - including McGlynn.

Falkirk also have representation in the U21s squad with ex-Rangers youth prospect Allan having been recalled following an impressive spell in the Bairns’ side. He netted a last-gasp winner against Dundee recently and is away with Scot Gemmell’s side for their European qualifiers against Gibraltar and Bulgaria. Last week, academy goalkeeper Hastings - who recently signed his first professional Falkirk contract - was part of the U17s squad who beat England and enjoyed a successful camp.

Scotland trio brilliant for Bairns

Assessing Bain’s call-up, McGlynn said: He is a seasoned campaigner. He has played in so many big games for us and of course he did beforehand too for Celtic. He’s faced the atmosphere away to Celtic and Hearts and been brilliant. At Tynecastle it took two worldies and a penalty to beat otherwise they couldn’t - he had so many good saves in that game. He’s been like that in basically every single game. His distribution is good too. You look at the Scotland goalkeeping situation - you don’t have to be daft to see they don’t have loads of goalkeepers playing at the top level every week. When you look around, there was no reason Scott couldn’t get back on that scene and I am delighted that he is. I knew he was a good goalkeeper. Stephen McGinn played with him at Dundee and spoke highly of Scott too. He is a character but has really grown up as such from when he was younger. If he plays, he wouldn’t let anyone down. He would be a good choice in my opinion under the circumstances.”

The boss added: “It is great for Connor Allan to be in the Scotland Under-21s squad. It is great for Falkirk Football Club. We have Scott Bain now representing the club on the international scene at the top level, Connor Allan in the U21s and young goalkeeper Joe Hastings having just been away with the U17s last week. Joe didn’t play but he was with the squad and I think it says so much about where Falkirk are now in the standings as such - the fact that we have international players again and just in general how we are doing on the pitch. It speaks volumes for the work happening across the club.”

Boss: Livingston have our number

Before the international break, the Bairns host fellow newly-promoted side Livingston in Falkirk as the team look to finally get one over David Martindale’s side. The visitors sit bottom of the top-flight table but come to FK2 knowing that they have are unbeaten against McGlynn’s group. And the manager admits that his players need to “buck that trend” this Saturday.

“We haven’t did well against Livi previously,” he said. “They took 10 points from 12 against us in the Championship and won the first Premiership game. But we’ve won three of our last four in the league. We are at home. We know what to expect and we couldn’t really be in a better place in regards to our front three players in behind the main striker - they were outstanding last week (3-1 home win v Kilmarnock) and if we can get to that level again then I’d like to think that we can come out with a win. We respect Livi enormously. By hook or by crook they’ve had one over us and we need to buck that trend. It’s the second round of games starting now and we want to win our home games. We’ll take the game to them and find a way to win. In our games against them, we haven’t tested their goalkeeper anywhere near enough.”

Injury update as striker is ruled out

On the injury front, McGlynn confirmed that full-back Leon McCann has returned alongside new defender Ryan Edwards - but that striker Ross MacIver is out for the foreseeable. A goalscorer last time out against Kilmarnock, MacIver limped off during the first half and the club had hoped that a scan wouldn’t be needed but that has now changed.

The boss revealed: “We’ve lost Ross MacIver but added Ryan Edwards and Leon McCann. Leon was flying before his injury, he was man of the match against Rangers here at the stadium. He tried to come back too quick but he is fit now. Filip (Lissah), who isn’t a natural left-back, has went in there and done exceptionally well so it one of those big manager calls for me. As for Ross, he is going to get a scan. We’ll have more information then.”