Paul Sheerin tells players 'take advantage of wide open league'

The Bairns go into Saturday’s cinch League 1 match against Dumbarton on the back of a 1- 1 draw with Alloa Athletic, after conceding a last minute equaliser.

Callumn Morrison returned from injury off the bench to score from the spot to seal what looked like an important three points, only for the Wasps to go straight up the pitch and once again lay bare Falkirk’s inadequacies with a scrappy goal after Ben Hall and Paul Dixon both missed key interceptions.

Sheerin admits he was furious with the way his players dropped three points.

“Anger was my main emotion at the time because when you score that late on you expect to see out the match. We didn’t press Mark Durnan enough at kick off and they launched the ball forward, but we could still deal with it in that moment.

“Ben and Paul will be disappointed because they are gifted a free shot at goal and they have eventually made it count. Both our full backs weren’t engaged enough and were still looking to go forward.

“Even at the time I thought the penalty was soft and it probably was on the lucky side for us. That is the real annoyance for me.”

Airdrieonains went top with a 3-1 win over Peterhead while the other four matches ended in the points being shared, leaving the Bairns still only four points from top spot in a wide open league. Sheerin believes his team can capitalise on the nature of the division.

“I expected the league to be tight but I must admit at this stage it is probably closer than anyone would have thought. Every team can go and win against anyone. There isn’t a team yet who have really made a claim for top spot and built up a clear advantage.

“We need to be the team that does that and the only we will do that is if we find consistency in our game. Over the past few matches our performance levels and the tweaks we have made to our system have pleased me and we just need to cut out the individual errors.”

Falkirk travel to Stevie Farrell’s Dumbarton who themselves conceded a last gasp equaliser last time out against Clyde. The Sons have already beaten the Bairns this season, winning 2-1 at Falkirk Stadium.

Sheerin wants his team to show not just their quality on the pitch, but their game management.

“They’ll be disciplined and will make it difficult for us to do what we want to do and dominate the game. They have already beaten us this season so they will go into it with confidence.

“We need to take our chances when they come our way and not leave ourselves in a position like last weekend. We know we have the players to win football matches but if we don’t do the dirty work properly we’ll always give the other team a chance.”