Match Report: Falkirk 2-2 Cove Rangers

Callumn Morrison gave Falkirk the lead from the penalty spot after McKenzie brought down Alston

On the balance of play it will have seemed like an undeserved point but a threadbare squad, decimated by injuries with only four subs on the bench, weathered a the Cove storm in the second half took their chance when it came.

Falkirk could have had the lead as early as the second minute when Callumn Morrison was in on goal but fired well over the bar from 20 yards.

The Bairns already looked much better in the opening stages than they had at any point in their previous two matches and took the lead on 18 minutes after Stuart McKenzie brought down Blair Alston in the area after the midfielder’s neat touch took it out of the Cove keeper’s path.

Conor Sammon's 85th minute goal secured a draw for the Bairns after Cove failed to convert chance after chance

Morrison stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way, smashing it in to the top left for his first goal since the 2-0 win over Montrose nine matches ago.

The Bairns were slightly the better team for the opening 30 minutes but Cove took control for the latter stages of the half and got an equaliser when Leighton McIntosh beat Robbie Mutch to an Adam Livingstone cross to head in from ten yards.

The visitors were then unlucky not to go in to the break with a 2-1 lead when Mitch Megginson battered the post with a powerful effort down to Mutch’s right inside the area.

Cove were gifted another chance to take the lead just two minutes after the break when Gary Miller was deemed to have handled the ball in the area and McIntosh stepped up to take the penalty but it was low and weak and easily held by Robbie Mutch down to his right.

Sporting director Gary Holt was in the dugout, taking interim charge following the departure of Lee Miler and David McCracken last Wednesday

It continued to be all Cove after that as Seb Ross hit the inside of the post before Mutch punched away.

The visitors took a deserved lead on 75 minutes with a terrific solo effort from Mitch Megginson who rode two challenge, took the ball past Mutch and clipped it in across goal from a tight angle.

That probably seemed enough to earn them the three points and they took their foot off the gas, something Falkirk punished them for.

Connor Sammon received the ball on the edge of the box on 85 minutes, barged his way through two Cove defenders and expertly slotted it under the onrushing McKenzie to rescue a point for the Bairns.

A draw was a good result for the hosts really, given the chances Cove failed to convert, but it was a better one still for Partick Thistle who won at home to Airdrie to extend their lead at the top to four points.