Moving St Mirren game can benefit Falkirk's Scottish Cup ambitions against Rangers

However the clubs put their heads together and agreed to switch the match to Saturday March 24 – a free weekend for both with Dumbarton and Inverness – their prospective opponents contesting the Irn-Bru Challenge Cup final in Perth.

The change has avoided the bad weather forecast for tonight, and has the added bonus of giving Falkirk a clear week ahead of Sunday’s William Hill Scottish Cup quarter final against Rangers.

MATCH STATS PREVIEW: RANGERS v FALKIRK

Graeme Murty’s side are due to play St Johnstone on Perth tonight, but Paul Hartley is already preparing his side for a tilt at the second-placed team in the top league.

He said: “In terms of the legs and energy we will need to use next week it’ll help. It gives us a full week to work with the players on how we’re going to play and time to recover.

“We’ve had a tough schedule over the last couple of months so it’ll help us that’s for sure.”

The Bairns boss was full of praise for his side after the 0-0 draw with Dumbarton on Saturday, despite supporters feeling frustration over the end result. The Bairns hit the woodwork four times in the first half but failed to beat Scott Gallacher or the Dumbarton rearguard in the second half.

CLUB STATS: FALKIRK FC

That said they outshot their opponents and Hartley recounted a statistic from the past two games where he saw more than 30 chances created.

He added: “We’ll look at the players this week, come up with a game plan and try to carry it out. We set up attack minded and we are a team who want to go out to win football matches.

“It’s a big game and the preparation starts now and we need to make sure it is spot on against a very good team.”

Falkirk have sold more than 1200 tickets for the game and more briefs are available until Friday.