Falkirk boss John McGlynn revealed star performer Liam Henderson will sit out of tonight’s William Hill Championship trip to Greenock Morton.

The midfielder, who has played at centre-back this season and has been the Bairns’ most consistent player, will not be risked at Cappielow with the hope that leaving him out will allow him to only miss out on this outing.

Forward duo Eamonn Brophy and Ross MacIver will also miss out alongside former Morton defender Darragh O’Connor with McGlynn’s squad down at both ends of the park.

But the boss is confident the group he has available can get the job done and extend the Bairns’ lead at the top of the table to five points ahead of title rivals Ayr United and Livingston going head to head on Saturday.

Falkirk manager John McGlynn on the touchline (Photo: Michael Gillen)

placeholder image — Falkirk manager John McGlynn on the touchline (Photo: Michael Gillen)

He said: “We don't have Eamonn Brophy, we don't have Ross MacIver. (Liam) Hendo's got an issue with his quad and so has Darragh O’Connor.

I don't think Eamonn too far away but I'm not going to put a deadline. I said he’d be back for this one and he hasn’t made it.

“Ross is a little bit further away. But Ross came back from his hamstring injury quicker. This is a foot injury. Every injury is different.

“Hendo is the type of boy who responds quite quickly compared to some. So I'm hoping he's not a million miles away either.

Falkirk winger Alfredo Agyeman celebrates scoring the winning goal against Morton on the Bairns' last visit to Cappielow (Photo: Michael Gillen)

"If we played him it could make it worse and he'd end up being longer-term. If we played him and he did something more damage to it then he could end up missing five or six and we didn't really want that.

“So it's just being a little bit sensible about things as well.”

On facing in-form Morton, who are unbeaten in eleven league outings since losing to Falkirk 6-0 back in November, McGlynn added: “You've got to give Dougie (Imrie) loads and loads of compliments.

“They're on an amazing run. They're flying. We were the last team to beat them. They'll remember that. They're going to make it really difficult for us.

"But we also have our own sights set on winning that game and trying to get this gap. We've been not just quite getting over the line in these games on a Friday night to put the pressure on the others.

"We've really got to produce and come up with the goods. They'll have their sights set on that fourth place. We need to defend well and we need to be clinical at the top end of the pitch.”