Ibrox test doesn't faze my Bairns

Falkirk will look to bounce back from their midweek defeat to Dundee in the Scottish Cup when they face Mark Warburton’s pacesetters.

The game will be the side’s second tough encounter in the space of a few days, but the gaffer says that’s just how he likes it.

Houston said: “We’ll recover well and get the legs back after Dundee and then go to Ibrox for a tough game there.

“They’re a good side, I watched them against Morton when they maybe weren’t at their best but they are a good side.

“They’re exciting and have 40,000 fans behind them.

“But we want games like that at Falkirk.

“We want to get up to the Premier League so we’re going to places like Dundee and playing against good players.”

Tuesday night’s defeat ensured there would be no repeat of last season’s run to the cup final.

But it wasn’t for the lack of trying.

Falkirk left Dens Park with their heads held high, having shown they were more than capable of competing with a solid Premiership side.

The Bairns boss added: “We’ll learn from the game that when you lose a bit of your discipline you’ll get hit on the counter attack.

“Take nothing away from Dundee, but we were over exposed for the second goal when they went down the right hand side.

“Hemmings then comes in and does well.

“It was a game we needed to go in front to give us something to hold on to.

“In the first half, going up the hill, we played well and I was happy with the players at half time.

“We had more of the play without creating too many chances.”

Houston insists the defeat may not be in vain, if his players can learn from the experience.

“What we need to take from it is that, when you play against Premier League teams, and you loosen up a bit, they can punish you.

“We had players too high up the pitch for their third and we will have to learn from that.”