Scott Bain battle for No 1 spot is bringing out my best, says Falkirk goalkeeper

The 24-year-old shone last season during the Bairns’ Scottish Championship title success but he has a challenge on his hands to hold onto the No 1 spot with Bain determined to be playing week in week out.

And that competition is a good thing for all involved, according to Hogarth, who was superb against St Johnstone during the Bairns’ 1-0 friendly win on Tuesday night.

Hogarth is happy to battle with Bain

“It’s bringing the best out in me,” he said. “The training group is really good and there’s a couple of younger lads that Scotty has been really good with so far.

“We’ve played eight games, managed to get four each which is a lot of game time considering you’re going game about.

“Now we go into the group stage of the cup and I don’t know if we’ll rotate in that.

“We will just keep pushing each other and hopefully I can take the No 1 spot come the start of the season.

“As a goalkeeper, you can only do what’s given to you. We’ve both been quiet in a few games and, as a collective, we’ve lost too many sloppy goals.

“It was really good to get a clean sheet. I can take some confidence from the saves in the second half and hopefully the lads can take some confidence as well.

“It’s a competition but I can’t go and chase a game to go and prove myself.

“As a goalkeeper, you just need to do what’s handed to you and make the most of what you’ve got.

“Scott has been good. He’s getting on really well with the boys; he’s been good in training.

“He’s about 10 years older than me, played with some fantastic players and trained every day at a very high level.

“He’s brought those training standards with him, which has been really good to work in.

‘His service is top class, we worked hard together and really push each other. He’s had a positive impact on the group.”

On the St Johnstone win, he added: “They became bigger and probably more experienced up top. We dealt with that well, I was able to make some saves.

“We dug in and showed that we can hold onto a 1-0 if we need to. We’ve been trying to play a bit higher with the goalkeeper in possession and we saw that more in the first half.”

Hogarth on Premier Sports Cup clashes

Falkirk now travel to Highland League side Brechin City in the Premier Sports Cup group stage opener, and Nicky says that his team-mates will need to bring their ‘A’ game to get the three points.

He said: “We’re looking forward to the group stage. We go in as a number one seed, rather than third which is where we’ve been.

“A good opportunity for us to go and have some success early in the year.

“But make no mistake about it, there are some difficult games in there.

“Away to Brechin can’t be overlooked. We saw Hearts go there in the Scottish Cup last year and struggled for large parts of the game.

“We will need to bring our ‘A’ game and be in it together. We’re going to be confident going into all of the games.”