Fine margins cost Falkirk cup final spot, reckons boss John McGlynn after SPFL Trust Trophy exit

The Bairns’ cup hopes were dashed by Welsh champions The New Saints, who edged out a 1-0 victory in Falkirk thanks to a first-half strike from Brad Young.

And despite dominating the chances, the home side couldn’t find a way to goal against Craig Harrison’s side.

"We put so much into the game,” boss McGlynn said. “For the opening 12 minutes, we were so good, and I am saying 12 minutes because it took up until then for The New Saints to really get up the park. We battered them for that opening period but we didn’t get that all-important goal.

“There weren’t many chances throughout the game. It was fine margins. I don’t think that we deserved to lose it – we deserved at least a draw out of it, a chance to go to extra-time. The statistics I am sure will show that we had way more efforts than The New Saints but there wasn’t too much in the game at all.

“We’ve made an error and they have managed to cash in on it. After that they more or less defended their lead and they did that well. We had half chances and on another day you probably take them.

“If we got one goal I really do think we would have went on to get another and that we could have gone on to actually win it. It would have been nice to get to a cup final – that is what we set out to do. We wanted a cup final to look forward too. But the boys put everything into it.”

McGlynn did however admit that being out of the competition will allow Falkirk to fully focus on their League One title tilt.

The Bairns now have a free weekend before returning next Saturday against second-placed Hamilton Accies, and a win in that match would see them surge back to an 11-point lead at the top with just 13 matches remaining.

McGlynn added: “The New Saints are a good side and we wish them well in the final. For us, there are no distractions now. We have 14 league games now including Hamilton and a cup final would have meant another midweek match.

"We know what happened last year in terms of having games to catch-up on. We have two midweek games and in terms of the run-in now we are probably in an ideal situation.

"The two week break is fine – we would have rather been playing (Cove Rangers away) but we will play a behind-closed-doors game on Friday.”