NEXT STOP: QUEEN’S PARK (A)

The Navy Blue Train departs Falkirk again this weekend as we travel to Glasgow to take on Queen’s Park at Hampden.

Kick-off is at 3pm, Saturday 15th March.

This Saturday we travel to the national stadium to take on Queen’s Park for the fourth and final time this season, in the first of our final eight league games.

The Bairns head into this weekend six unbeaten and full of confidence, coming off the back of back-to-back wins, including a massive derby win last weekend.

Despite the scoreline, our win against Dunfermline was a dominant one, with The Bairns controlling most of the game. The opening goal came in typical Falkirk fashion, early on in the proceedings. It was captain Brad Spencer who got the opener after Ethan Ross’ effort from the edge of the box deflected to Barney Stewart. The striker did well to lay the ball off to Spencer, who showed incredible composure to shift the ball to his right and slot the ball past the goalkeeper.

Despite The Bairns creating a number of chances, Brad’s goal was the only goal of the game. Falkirk could have had a second in the second half when Scott Arfield dummied a pass for Spencer to strike first time, but his effort went just past the post. The Pars didn’t create any clear cut chances, leaving Nicky Hogarth with little to do in the Falkirk goal, and went back across the bridge with no points. Falkirk’s win means they have taken 10 points from a possible 12 against their bitter rivals this season, and a loss for Dunfermline means they now sit just seven points ahead of bottom side Airdrieonians, who shortened the gap with their win against Hamilton. Results elsewhere saw Falkirk go six points clear at the top of the league.

Queen’s Park haven’t had the best run of form recently, having only won a single game from their previous seven in the league. The Spiders find themselves in the middle of the tight mid-table battle for fourth place, sitting seventh with only five points between them and Partick Thistle. Despite their league form, the Glasgow side have enjoyed some exciting results in recent weeks, famously beating Rangers in the Scottish Cup last month, as well as having the SPFL Trust Trophy final to look forward to.

They didn’t play in the league on Saturday as they were in Scottish Cup action against Premiership side, Aberdeen. After already beating Premiership opposition, getting past another top flight side proved a step too far, and The Dons proved too much for The Spiders at Pittodrie, coming away with a 4-1 win.

It was Queen’s Park’s second defeat in a row, having lost out at home to Ayr United last Tuesday evening, in a dramatic five goal thriller. After an uneventful first half, all five goals came in the second. The hosts found themselves two goals to the good nine minutes after the restart thanks to goals from Jack Turner and Zak Rudden, much to the delight of both Queen’s Park and Falkirk fans. But when Marco Rus got a goal back for the visitors, it seemed likely the more in-form team would take something from the game after all. This proved to be the case when, 10 minutes later, Ben Dempsey drew Ayr United level. The Honest Men weren’t done there though, and January signing Curtis Main completed Ayr’s comeback three minutes later.

Falkirk will be hoping for a repeat of the last result between the two sides at Hampden, with The Bairns taking all three points. They’ll be looking for a more comfortable win this time round, however, as last time it was only Aidan Nesbitt’s goal that separated the two sides.