Paul Smith: Fans played a key role in Falkirk's late victory over Queen of the South

Falkirk fans in the Kevin McAllister Stand during Saturday's 1-0 win over Queen of the South (Photo: Michael Gillen)

The Bairns assistant manager hailed the backing from the stands as Brad Spencer netted a late winner at the death to ensure John McGlynn’s men recorded a 1-0 win – with that result keeping the side on top of the League 1 table on goal difference, with Hamilton Accies also scoring a late winning goal in their match against Alloa Athletic.

"It was a great goal from Brad (Spencer) and it was a fantastic finish,” Smith said. “We showed our mentality, we are all together in that changing room.

“Over the 96 minutes, we thoroughly deserved to win the game. We got a lot of crosses into the box in the first half, but we couldn’t really get on the end of them. To be fair to Queen of the South, they defended their box very well and Efe Ambrose got his head to almost every ball that Callumn Morrison put in. But we kept plugging away at it.

Paul Smith on the touchline alongside boss John McGlynn (Photo: Michael Gillen)

“We are doing so much right. It was another game that we started really well and we are the top goalscorers in the SPFL still so that says something – today we just couldn’t quite get the ball over the line until the death.

"Things just didn’t break for us but what we did do is continue to plug away until we grabbed the winner at the end. We made some substitutions and they gave us fresh legs.

"I have to thank the supporters too for their backing, that was 4,500-odd today again and they got behind us. I’ve been here before and you can here the fans’ frustrations during a game like that but today all they did for the full game was get behind us and that drove us on for the winner. Hopefully they will have a great weekend again.”

New signing Ethan Ross, who joined on loan midweek from Raith Rovers, started the match with Alfredo Agyeman pulling out due to an injury to add to the Bairns woes on the treatment table.

Brad Spencer struck a late winner for the Bairns to keep them top of the table (Photo: Michael Gillen)

The attacker lasted an hour before coming off and Smith, who worked with former Aberdeen youngster Ross at Stark’s Park previously, said he will be better for it.

He said: “It is good to get Ethan here. He is certainly needing minutes on the park and you can see that. He has’t played much recently. He will better for that 60 minutes today, and I am sure he will get better and better as each week goes on.”