'They wanted the pitch to be a tip': Falkirk FC boss John McGlynn hits back at Bonnyrigg Rose gaffer Robbie Horn's jibes after Scottish Cup shock

McGlynn was responding to post match jibes by Bonnyrigg boss Robbie Horn, who said his players had been more up for the tie than Falkirk while branding the Bairns’ pre-match complaints about the playing surface ‘disrespectful’ and insisting the dodgy park was ‘the same for both teams’.

“I never listen to the opposition manager either before the game or after the game,” McGlynn told the Falkirk Herald. “I don’t actually do it and I haven’t done it.

"But he’s come out with: ‘It’s the same pitch for two teams’. But you’ve got a team who play football (Falkirk) and that’s not football.

"They’ve won, good luck to them, and I said that after the game. I think I was big enough to do that without having a dig at the opposition.

"I can’t see anyone going to a football game there and enjoying it because it’s not football. The pitch is a disgrace.

"And from what I’m led to believe they don’t have a groundsman. How can you not have a groundsman?

"That’s what I was told. I don’t know that for a fact so I would need to be careful on that.

"I don’t think they were going to be too keen to repair the pitch from the previous Saturday to that Saturday.

"I think, whatever you want to call it, they would have been happy for the pitch to be a tip because we’re the football team and they knew they wouldn’t beat us. If we were out here (at the Falkirk Stadium) then we win the game by three or four.

"It is what it is. They were laughing because they knew the pitch was a disgrace. Actually they were telling me that was the best it had been for about a month.

"The only thing that could have been holding it together was the frost in the ground, otherwise it would have been a swamp.”

With their long unbeaten run now over, Falkirk return to League 1 business this Saturday when they visit Alloa Athletic.

The Bairns – top of the table on 53 points having won 16 and drawn five of their league outings this season – currently enjoy a nine-point lead over second-placed Hamilton Accies who have played a game fewer.

When asked if he has any fresh injury worries for the match, McGlynn said: “Callumn Morrison took a knock in training on his knee and so we’re not sure if he’s going to make the weekend or not.

"He is the only doubt that we have and we have Ryan Shanley back now that he’s not cup tied.”