Falkirk 2-1 Hearts

May 6 2008 By Gary Ralston

SHAGGY was done in by Scobbie last night in a scrappy do at Westfield.

Hearts coach Steve Frail, nicknamed after the comic character, set about clinching his team's position as best of the rest.

He might have got away with it too, if it hadn't been for that pesky kid.

Scobbie, still just 20, netted his first goal of the season on the stroke of halftime as Falkirk claimed only their third win in the SPL in four months.

The full-back then turned provider for Carl Finnigan seven minutes after the break as John Hughes' side kept alive their hopes of finishing seventh.

Sub Deividas Cesnauskis hauled the Jambos back into the game with 13 minutes remaining, but failed to make a sufficient fight of it as the Bairns held out in a low-key affair with few highlights.

Hearts are two points ahead of the Bairns with two games still to play and were not helped by the loss through injury of Gary Glen and Saulius Mikoliunas.

Falkirk just about deserved their win, although neither keeper will be submitting a claim for working overtime on the bank holiday Monday.

Falkirk went into the game on the back of a depressing sequence of results and Hearts are hardly playing like Brazil 1970.

But the Jambos have given youth a fling in the process, with Under-21 players such as Glen and Jason Thomson again included for a match that, on the surface at least, appeared football's equivalent of two bald men arguing over a comb.

Setanta bosses must have been suffering from mental fatigue when they made the bewildering decision to make this the main feature of their Monday night schedule.

In the main stand concourse at Westfield volunteers were flogging raffle tickets to support the forthcoming Mod in Falkirk, but Hagus Agus will draw more viewers at 3.30am on a Sunday morning than this low-key affair was ever likely to attract to satellite telly.

The end-of-season feel was underlined by the apathy of the crowd, both in terms of numbers and atmosphere they created. More energy was generated at nearby Grangemouth during the recent fuel strike.

Falkirk followers, who make Victor Meldrew look a poster boy for patience and understanding, could barely raise their usual groans above a murmur of disapproval, although they almost had a rare goal to cheer after four minutes when a Scott Arfield shot was touched into the side net by Steve Banks.

For the most part, however, the game was scrappy in the middle of the park as promising moves petered out.

Hearts almost opened the scoring when Laryea Kingston burst into the box on the right but his strong shot was pushed around the post by Supple.

At the other end, a Pedro Moutinho effort had Banks scrambling, but the shot from the Portuguese ace flew wide.

Hearts were forced into a reshuffle before the break when Glen and Mikoliunas went off to be replaced by Jamie Mole and Lee Wallace.

It seemed to unsettle them and Falkirk almost took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Banks bundled an overhead-kick from Michael Higdon round the post.

But the resulting set-piece, taken by Pedro Moutinho, dropped at the feet of Scobbie and he was allowed to guide a volley into the back of the net.

Falkirk started the second half keen to put the game to bed and Finnigan let fly with a volley from 30 yards that dipped narrowly past.

The Jambos were caught sleeping minutes later when the Bairns netted the second.

First, Patrick Cregg was left unchallenged to swing in a cross to the back post from the middle of the pitch where Scobbie, in splendid isolation, nodded the ball back across the six-yard line.

There, Finnigan stole in unmarked with Jose Goncalves dreaming and planted a header beyond the helpless Banks.

Falkirk continued to look liveliest without ever seriously testing Banks, while Supple was a virtual spectator.

The Bairns keeper might have been tested when a raking cross played in sub Cesnauskis at the back post, but he elected to dive outrageously under little more than a look from Chris Mitchell and was rightly cautioned.

That was ugly, but the Lithuanian reminded everyone of the good side of his game with 13 minutes remaining, dragging the ball into an acute angle before rifling a shot high past Supple.

MAN OF THE MATCH Tam Scobbie (Falkirk)

Taken from the Daily Record