Falkirk reaction: Three talking points from the 1-0 derby defeat to Dunfermline

A stopping low header from Craig Wighton on the hour mark from a corner sealed the three points for the Pars – who were worthy winners on the day in front of a bumper 7,279 strong crowd.

Now that the dust has settled The Falkirk Herald looks back at the key talking points.

Pars win tactical battle

Much has been made of the astute tactical awareness and knowledge of Falkirk management duo John McGlynn and Paul Smith, but on Saturday they were certainly outsmarted by former Dundee boss James McPake and his backroom team.

Dunfermline changed their set-up from the first meeting of the sides back in September, which saw Falkirk pick up a point in an end-to-end 1-1 draw at East End Park.

This time around, they set up in a rigid 4-1-4-1 formation that limited the ability of the Bairns key playmakers to get on the ball and play through the lines.

McPake said afterwards his players put in the “perfect performance” in terms of how they worked within that shape and that the goal was a planned set-piece move planned by Dave McKay in training beforehand.

He also confirmed his game plan was to allow Falkirk to have ‘all of the ball’ and to limit their rotations in midfield.

It is hard to disagree with his assessment – the Bairns resorted to long balls and playing for set-pieces which played into the Pars’ hands, with the likes of Aidan Nesbitt and Stephen McGinn really struggling to make an impact.

Home form takes a dip

Saturday’s defeat was only the Bairns second competitive defeat at home this campaign so far, which overall isn’t too bad a record – especially considering the likes of Hibs and Partick Thistle visiting the Falkirk Stadium in cup competitions.

However, those two losses have come one after another, with the 3-2 defeat to Kelty Hearts last month the other.

In both matches Falkirk have lost really poor goals. Craig Wighton’s header came from a corner kick that saw the striker free to move into the back post area to score.

Finn Yeats and Stephen McGinn were both static when Joe Chalmers cross came into the box with the zonal approach failing in the big moment.

The Kelty match was even worse, with Alfredo Agyman’s early double coming from two preventable moves.

Coll Donaldson missed a tackle for the first, while Liam Henderson was caught out one-on-one for the second.

Opportunity spurned

Taking away the significance of the match in terms of the league table, with over 5,000 home fans in the stadium, an opportunity to further rekindle the relationship between the Bairns support and the club was missed.

Boss McGlynn afterwards admitted the ‘expectation levels’ had been raised by his side and that the loss was one that would be felt off the pitch too.

With a bumper near sell-out crowd, the match was a real chance to galvanise the support as the club look to move to fan ownership model.

The Falkirk Supporters’ Society have recently reached over 600 members, which makes them the fourth largest shareholder in the club – but spokesperson Stuart Adam confirmed to the Falkirk Herald recently that for the dream to become a reality – the numbers would need to be way higher.

So far under McGlynn’s leadership it is clear that the team are much-improved from last season, but at this stage in the campaign there are still way more questions than answers as to how Falkirk can reach the second tier once again.