THE pendulum which will ultimately decide which team will finish seventh in the SPL took a dramatic swing in the direction of Falkirk on Saturday, the Bairns defeating Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2-1 in their final home game of the season.
The result enabled them to leapfrog Hearts in the table and to look ahead to next weekend when a victory at Kilmarnock will ensure they finish the season as top side in the bottom six for the second year running.
Some might question the worth of
such an achievement but Falkirk manager John Hughes makes it clear how much it means to him.
"Seventh spot in the table is very important to us," said Yogi.
"It's all about finance and the higher we finish in the table, then the more cash there will be available to take the club forward.
"The money's important as it's vital that we attract the right calibre of player to Falkirk. We also need to attract more fans through the turnstiles. We have a hard core of about 4000 loyal fans but we need to get more people interested in coming to games – the supporters have a massive part to play."
Falkirk took the lead on Saturday with just under half an hour on the clock when Michael Higdon scored from close range after Darren Barr had flicked on a corner from Pedro Moutinho and the Bairns looked to be cruising to victory when Carl Finnigan fired in a superb second goal shortly after the interval.
A late penalty strike from Caley's Barry Wilson, however, awarded after the same player had been fouled by Tam Scobbie, ensured a nervous finish for the home fans in the larger than usual crowd of 5631, swollen by the decision to allow children into the ground free.
"We played some nice passing football and scored two good goals," continued Hughes, "but then made it difficult for ourselves by conceding a late penalty.
"Overall, however, I was very pleased with the performance and the result."
The full article contains 345 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
