John McGlynn on 'letting his hair down' and ensuring don't Falkirk 'drop-off' after Scottish Cup win

The Bairns 2-1 win over the Honest Men sealed a Hampden semi-final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and McGlynn believes the atmosphere at the Falkirk Stadium was the best he has witnessed so far – and that is helped the team get the result over the line.

“That the best we’ve seen of the fans so far since joining in the summer,” he told the Falkirk Herald. “The reaction after the game and even during the game – it just shows you what they can do if we do it on the pitch. I think it was a special night for everyone connected with the football club.

"There is nothing better than scoring a last winner and it got everyone buzzing. You saw that with the reaction of the likes of Kai (Kennedy) and Callumn (Morrison) and to a lesser extent myself.

“I suppose you could say I let my hair down. The raw emotion came out for sure, you bottle it all up. On the touchline you may look okay at points but you are always kicking and heading every ball inside. You are doing everything that a manager does during a game and you are so switched on and focused, especially in a game like that.

“The fans came in big numbers and they really helped us win the game, they got us through that second half when we were attacking our own end and it was almost like they were sucking the ball into the back of the net. When you see how much it meant to the fans and how connected everyone is at that point, it brings out that emotion, which isn’t a bad thing.”

The boss however says it is important to put the Scottish Cup run to one side as they go into the final nine league matches of the campaign. Falkirk currently sit in second spot, eight points behind leaders Dunfermline and nine points ahead of third-placed Edinburgh.

McGlynn said: “It is so important that we continue to do well in the league. I don’t see Dunfermline losing three games and us winning every game but have to do our best to win as many games as we can up until the end of the season. If we get to the play-offs then we need to be in good form and we cannot have any sort of drop-off between now and then.

“The guys on the bench need to continue pushing and you saw how much it impacted the game through the likes of Kai (Kennedy) and Gary (Oliver) who were excellent. We brought in extra height so different players came into the team and that is how it goes. You have to pick the team you think will win you the game.

“We have had a shift in our mentality over the course of the season. The physicality of the team is better now too. We are getting closer now to playing really good football while also picking up the right result.”

The Bairns travel to Palmerston on Saturday afternoon to take on Queen of the South, who they have beaten three times already this season, scoring eleven goals in the process.

But McGlynn reckons it will be a tough test against Marvin Bartley’s side despite their lowly position in the league standings.

“I’m sure Marvin will want to get one over on us,” he said. “We want to start another good run and our focus has to be razor-sharp. We have a Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday period coming up now too with rearranged games and it will be a time to really use our squad. We have a strong squad now and we are injury-free now outwith Paul Watson.

“Queens have always been a good footballing team and under Marvin, I think they are trying to do that even more now. So far we have managed to get the upper hand over them but there is always fine margins in this league.

“I believe they are a good team (compared to their league position) and I think they would have been hoping to have won a series of games.

“With nine games to go I don’t think it is beyond them to o on a good run and we have to respect that – they have so much to play for and we need to be professional and go down with the right attitude.”