Ten-man Falkirk fell to an agonising 3-2 defeat in a five-goal thriller against Dundee United at The Falkirk Stadium. Liam Henderson’s controversial dismissal will be sure to gather the headlines as McGlynn’s side experienced just their second home defeat of the year.
A disappointing afternoon for Falkirk who will kick themselves for the way in which they conceded all three goals, especially when the two goals scored contained so much quality. It was a vital result for Goodwin’s side, who were coming into this clash off the back of a terrible run.
An intriguing opening 15 minutes saw The Bairns dominate in possession; however, Scott Bain was the first keeper to be called into action, leaping to tip over Ross Graham’s headed effort at the back post.
A positive spell followed for the visitors as they narrowly missed through Craig Sibbald at the edge of the box before having an extremely dangerous ball across the six yard box cleared by Liam Henderson.
Falkirk would eventually reap the rewards of their dominance in possession, as they scored a wonderful goal to open the scoring.
A lovely passage of play saw Dylan Tait find Barney Stewart in the box, he held it up well before laying it off to Ben Broggio who curled an excellent effort into the corner to give McGlynn’s side the lead and secure is second goal in as many games.
Dundee United were quick with their response, though, as they capitalised on a defensive mishap from Falkirk.
A poor clearance and a miscommunication between Bain and Henderson saw a loose ball drop to United skipper Ross Graham, who slid the ball into the open net to level the scores with 25 minutes played.
Lewis Neilson then came close to putting Falkirk back ahead just five minutes later, but his looping header nicked the bar before going behind for a goal kick.
Few chances followed for either side throughout the remainder of the half however, there wasn’t a lack of entertainment as both sides were throwing everything at each other.
A frantic start to the second period saw both teams carve out some dangerous opportunities.
Falkirk would be first to make their chances count, taking the lead once more through a well worked goal from Filip Lissah.
He drove inside before switching the play out to Leon McCann. The left-back’s cross fell perfectly for Lissah, who met it at the back post to volley Falkirk back into the lead.
United didn’t stick around for long, though, and had the ball in the back of the net just two minutes later through ex-Bairn, Craig Sibbald.
Zac Sapsford got the break of possession and had a strike at goal blocked by Neilson, the loose ball then fell kindly for Sibbald, whose shot from the edge of the area was rolled neatly into the bottom corner.
A great move almost saw Lissah grab his second of the game, but Maynard-Brewer stepped up with a ridiculous save to keep the score locked at 2-2.
A game-altering decision followed, with just over 20 minutes to play, as Liam Henderson was shown a red card for the denial of a goal scoring opportunity. This is one that is sure to cause controversy as the incident occurred around 45-yards from goal with the full backline also being in place to cover.
Despite going down to ten, Falkirk stayed in the game and managed to mount a few attacks but no avail.
Then, the sucker punch came, as a depleted Bairns defence struggled to defend a deep cross to the back post. The ball dropped perfectly for Julius Eskesen, who fired it back across the goal to find the corner and give Goodwin’s side the lead with less than ten minutes to play.
The Bairns did come up with a late chance, as Brian Graham and Kyrell Wilson combined nicely. Graham would ultimately see his shot blocked, as Falkirk fell to an unfortunate defeat at The Falkirk Stadium.
Falkirk Starting XI: Scott Bain, Leon McCann, Liam Henderson, Brad Spencer ©, Ben Broggio (17’), Lewis Neilson, Barney Stewart, Dylan Tait, Filip Lissah (53’), Calvin Miller and Louie Marsh.
Substitutes: Nicky Hogarth, Keelan Adams, Coll Donaldson, Brian Graham, Aidan Nesbitt, Finn Yeats, Henry Cartwright, Kyrell Wilson and Ethan Ross.
Dundee United Starting XI: Ashley Maynard-Brewer, Ryan Strain, Iuri Iovo, Ross Graham (24’), Kristijan Trapanovski, Zac Sapsford, Will Ferry, Craig Sibbald (55’), Neil Farrugia, Luca Stephenson, Krisztian Keresztes.
Substitutes: David Richards, Vicko Sevelj, Julius Eskesen (83’), Emmanuel Agyei, Ivan Dolcek, Dario Naamo, Owen Stirton, Max Watters and Samuel Cleall-Harding.
Referee: Ryan Lee
Assistant Referees: Ross Macleod and David Dunne
Fourth Official: Gavin Duncan
Attendance: 7,696.
