Big match preview: Falkirk v Alloa Athletic

The defeat was a major surprise given the fact the Bairns had won all of their previous three league fixtures against Peterhead, FC Edinburgh and Queen of the South while scoring a total of nine goals and conceding just two.

Falkirk are currently fifth in the latest league standings with 10 points from their six fixtures so far.

Alloa, meanwhile, are one place below Falkirk in sixth spot in the division, on nine points from six games.

They have scored a whopping nine goals in their last two league matches, with a 4-2 success at Clyde last Saturday coming seven days after a 5-0 home win over Peterhead. These two victories followed a largely tough start to the league season for Brian Rice’s team, as they lost three of their first four league games with their only success coming against Kelty Hearts.

Falkirk have won four, lost two and drawn three of their last nine league games against Alloa.

In the sides’ last meeting at the Falkirk Stadium on April 23, current Partick Thistle striker Anton Dowds netted for the Bairns with a late close range header in a 2-1 defeat. But Alloa prevailed thanks to earlier goals by Kevin Cawley and Conor Sammon.

Falkirk’s last win against Alloa came back in February when they prevailed 3-0 thanks to second-half strikes by Jaze Kabia, Craig McGuffie and Dowds at the Indodrill Stadium.

Alloa striker Conor Sammon is their top scorer this season with eight goals and he has also had one assist.

The veteran former Republic of Ireland international forward is well-known to Falkirk fans having spent two years with the Bairns between 2019 and 2021, scoring eight times in 43 appearances.

The Wasps’ second top scorer this campaign is Bradley Rodden who has netted five times and will also have to be watched by the Falkirk rearguard this Saturday. Sammon and Rodden both scored in the 4-2 win at Clyde last weekend.

Falkirk manager John McGlynn recently expressed his desire to get Falkirk out of Scottish football’s third tier.

He said: "You can generalise and say ‘Yes, four seasons is too long for Falkirk to be in the third tier’.

"But there’s a reason for it. If you don’t do it on the pitch you get where you deserve to be.

"You are as well asking if Ross County deserve to be in the Premiership. Why not? They’ve done it on the pitch. They might not get a big support, they might not have a great history but you can’t just say Falkirk should be in a higher league because they’re Falkirk. You’ve got to do it on the pitch.

"You’ve got to earn the right and that’s what we’ve got to do. It’s been very tough for Falkirk to be here for that length of time but nobody’s feeling sorry for them outside Falkirk.”