Falkirk’s players go into the match that will decide their play-off status looking to earn both a welcome break and a confidence boost for the challenges to come when they meet Morton today.
Having already achieved their principal objective for the season well ahead of schedule by reaching the Premiership play-offs they will secure what many consider the most advantageous schedule if they match Hibs’ result today and avoid allowing the Edinburgh club from boosting their comparative goal difference by three.
After all, while Falkirk’s manager Peter Houston called in midweek for an overhaul of the play-offs which he believes are weighted in favour of the team that finishes 11th in the Premiership who are given an automatic place in the final, they will get a 10 day gap between matches, before going relatively fresh into a semi-final against a team that has contested home and away quarter-finals. The 11th placed Premiership team will meanwhile have been fighting to avoid being in the play-offs.
“As players, it’s massive to finish second,” said Luke Leahy, the 23-year-old Englishman who, as a product of the Gordon Strachan Foundation, has fully justified his move north with an appearance in last year’s Scottish Cup final and now this promotion bid.
“We get a week to recover from a very long season. I can look at it either way, it can be a bad thing or a good thing.
“If you do win those two (play-off quarter-final) games you get a bit of momentum, but I just think the rest is far more important. If we do get second we can watch them two (Raith and Hibs) battle it out and wait for the winner.”
Given the imbalance in respective resources Falkirk have already done superbly well just to take it to the last game while a combination of their cup run last season and this season’s record that has seen them beat Rangers twice and lose to Hibs in just one of their four meetings, underlines the impression that they are capable of mixing it with Scotland’s best.
However splitting the teams that were expected to contest a title duel well clear of the rest would itself be a boost ahead of the play-offs.
“With Hibs and Rangers in the division it would be a massive achievement for Falkirk to get second,” said Leahy.
“I think the players, staff and fans would have taken simply challenging for second. It’s massive and the momentum going into the playoffs from second place could be huge for us.”
This time around, however, they are the favourites up against a team that has been largely under-estimated as Leahy noted, while continuing to exhibit the attitude that has served Falkirk well.
“Morton are a tough side, the last games we have played against them have been 1-0, 1-0 and 1-1,” he said.
“They have tricky wingers and a good strike partnership with (Denny) Johnstone and (Declan) McManus. They will cause us problems but we need to stay calm and enjoy the game and the occasion.”
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