Falkirk v Clyde

Recap

The Bully Wee suffered a narrow Betfred Cup loss at the Falkirk Stadium this evening, with the winning goal coming from the penalty spot.

Danny Lennon rotated his squad and made five changes to the side from Saturday’s win over Dumbarton, handing a debut to Slovakian ‘keeper Matej Vajs and a first start to Lloyd Robertson.

David Goodwillie had a good chance to open the scoring when he cut in from the left but his shot was turned behind for a corner.

Falkirk took the lead in the 13th minute when Aidan Keena got on the end of a long ball over the Clyde back line and fired across Vajs.

It took Clyde just four minutes to get back on level terms with a similar goal. Barry Cuddihy knocked a ball behind the home defence and Goodwillie outpaced both Falkirk centre-backs to rifle past Robbie Mutch.

The hosts had opportunities to re-take the lead but a vicious drive from Keena was deflected behind for a corner, whilst Vajs made a good save from a powerful Anton Dowds effort.

The Bairns were given a penalty within a minute of the restart after Cuddihy was judged to have pulled back Robbie Leitch in the box. Vajs guessed right but Callumn Morrison’s spot kick was placed out of his reach.

Blair Alston was unlucky not to increase the advantage when he saw his long range free-kick crack off the underside of the crossbar.

Clyde pushed men forward in search of an equaliser and Falkirk had chances to seal the victory, firstly from a quick counter attack but Vajs dived at the feet of Akeel Francis to bravely block, and then moments later pulled off a fine save from Dowds.

Substitute Martin McNiff was picked out from a late corner but couldn’t direct his header on target, as The Bully Wee fell to their first defeat in Falkirk since 2003.