Paul Smith: Queen of the South not an easy game

Ahead of the home match, assistant manager Smith told the Falkirk Herald: “Even although the two results so far against Queens have looked fairly comfortable, I think they have caused us problems in spells and I don’t think we will find it easy going on Friday night at all.

"They had a really strong 15/20 minute spell down at Palmerston in the second half and they are dangerous when they get in and around the opposition box.

"The boy Ruari Paton is a great goalscorer for them and he already is in double figures for them. He assists his team-mates too and he is a handful to deal with. He took his penalty well against us earlier in the season.

"For me, they try to play football the right way, just like we are doing and I have a lot of respect for that. I think it will be an open game which will suit us.”

The Bairns come into Friday’s game on the back of a small break, after the match with Alloa Athletic last weekend was called off due to the inclement weather.

Meanwhile, Queens’ match with Kelty Hearts did actually go ahead, with now departed boss Wullie Gibson’s side eventually losing 2-1 to the Fife outfit.

"It was a surprise to be honest,” Smith added. “We managed to train indoors during the week and going into Friday, we thought the game would be on. The pitch was fine and we didn’t have any worries.

"Things changed that morning and the game was called off which was a disappointment. We wanted to play because we want to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.

"One positive is that the break has given a wee bit of time for some players to gain fitness going into Friday night and we have a few further on now that may make the Queens game that wouldn’t have made the Alloa one.

"Coll Donaldson will still be suspended so that is a big miss but Liam Henderson has had some time to prove his fitness in training and he is back with us. One or two others are carrying wee niggles but it looks better now than it did.

"We have haven’t been able to name a really strong bench recently.”