Falkirk to give fringe players 'much needed minutes' at Peterhead, confirms assistant Paul Smith

The Bairns final League 1 match is against the Blue Toon this weekend at Balmoor, with second spot already wrapped up while the hosts are already relegated from the division.

Looking ahead to the match, Smith confirmed the likes of Matthew Wright, Jordan Allan, Ola Lawal and Paul Watson could be in from the start.

"Some boys will get a wee opportunity and it is up to them to take it,” he said. “Everyone within the squad has been training well for a long time but you can only pick 11 players. This is their chance and the incentive is certainly there with the big games coming up next week.

“There are many that come to mind, including those guys. Especially Paul Watson having been out of the full season. Over the past two months some of the guys haven’t had enough minutes. Some young players will get some game-time too.”

Blaine Rowe will miss the match after picking up a grade one hamstring tear, and he is a doubt for the Championship promotion play-off first leg tie next Tuesday night too.

On Saturday’s opponents, Smith says they will be right up for the match under new management duo, club stalwarts Jordon Brown and Ryan Strachan despite their fate having already been sealed.

He said: “The two guys have done very well at Peterhead for a long period of time. The reports we have had have shown that are playing much better, and they were really unlucky at Kelty Hearts last time out.

"They have tightened things up and they will have players playing for contracts there or elsewhere – a game is never meaningless. They will have a real go at us in this one.”

Looking back on last weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the assistant coach said: “We didn’t deserve to lose 3-0 on the day. The penalty changed the game early on and it was really harsh, those in charge properly need to look at how to fix that. It has been controversial all season long.

“At the end of the day you leave disappointed but in the light of day we were proud of the players’ efforts and the performance too. The support was fantastic too and we are hoping they will come out for the play-offs too. The fans stayed until the end and I think the players really acknowledged that and appreciated it.”