'It should have been more' - Falkirk boss John McGlynn on Queen's Park win and what would have made it sweeter

Despite missing the likes of Callumn Morrison and Brad Spencer on Saturday afternoon – Falkirk sealed their spot in the quarter-finals of the SFPL Trust Trophy after a convincing 1-0 win over Championship outfit Queen’s Park, who narrowly missed out on promotion to the top-flight last term.

On the match, which was won by an early Jordan Allan penalty, manager McGlynn said: “​I though we created the better chances throughout the game. Queens are a good side and very good possession-based team. Our defence put in a really great showing to limit Nicky Hogarth to one big save really towards the end.

“At the other end, Calum Ferrie made a number of excellent saves for them and our own Calvin Miller managed to block a goal-bound shot from Jordan Allan. It was of them, it could have been 4-1 at half-time. Ola (Lawal) had a big chance too one-on-on in the first-half that he should have scored. We could have been talking about a lot more.

“Coll Donaldson and Tom Lang put their bodies on the line late on too. Their was some heroic-type defending today. That was pleasing, everyone got back in and helped out. We are doing much better this season at getting clean sheets.”

The likes of Calvin Miller and Sean Mackie both returned to action off the bench against the Spiders and recovering from long-term injury issues, but McGlynn is still hoping to further bolster his group – who have managed to build up a 12-match unbeaten run.

“Brad Spencer was injured,” he explained. “Callumn Morrison was injured. Nicky (Hogarth) played at Ayr in the last round and that made sense to play him again, that was a choice as was brining in Jordan Allan for the same reason, he has been knocking at the door.

“It was great to have Sean Mackie and Calvin Miller back on the pitch for 25-odd minutes too but it would be nice to have the other guys currently out available again like Stephen McGinn, Brad McKay, Brad Spencer, Callumn Morrison, too many.”

The boss included three Falkirk academy players within the matchday squad, with winger Harrison Howe earning a first-team debut after impressing the boss in a Scottish FA Youth Cup tie the previous night.

“We gave them a little bit of a bonus by being involved,” McGlynn explained. “They played last night in the Scottish FA Youth Cup and won 1-0 against Livingston here and they did very well. They deserved to be part of the matchday squad. Harrison (Howe) managed to nearly score and he probably should have – that would have been a dream come true for him and it would have made it a little sweeter.”