FC Edinburgh's Lee Hamilton says Falkirk's Scottish Cup heroics underlines talent in League One

FC Edinburgh's Lee Hamilton says he isn't surprised to see League One rivals Falkirk through to the Scottish Cup semi-finals such is the quality throughout Scottish football's third tier.

The Bairns made it to the last four of the competition earlier this week with a 2-1 win over Championship outfit Ayr United and will now face Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Hampden next month.

The Citizens have failed to take a point off full-time clubs Dunfermline - who they travel to this weekend - Falkirk and Queen of the South so far this term but will look to right that wrong at East End Park.

However, Hamilton insists John McGlynn's men's heroic journey hasn't caught him off guard.

Lee Hamilton tussles with Falkirk's Liam Henderson. Picture: Dave Johnston.

"A lot of people look past the quality because it's League One but look at Falkirk now in the Scottish Cup semi-finals," the 27-year-old said. "You only have to look how far Darvel got with their victory over Aberdeen, so even the league below every club is striving to improve. I think when people come to watch the games, they'll see the standard is a lot better than they were perhaps expecting."

The Meadowbank outfit are hoping to make amends following last Saturday's lacklustre 2-0 defeat to play-off rivals Alloa.

Hamilton added: "We know as a group we were off it last week and it's not often we can say that this season. You'll always get one or two but I don't think anyone could get pass marks. It does make it worse that it was Alloa because we were hoping to extend our lead in third so for them to claw that deficit back it's making things that bit closer in the table than we'd have liked.

"But there are still eight games left so we're confident we can get enough points between now and the end of the season. We had a good chat before training on Tuesday and how we can rectify things moving forward.

"We have struggled against the bigger clubs but we're always pushing to do better. We're getting closer so hopefully it comes this weekend and we can cause an upset. East End Park is one stadium you look forward going to because there's a good atmosphere, it's a good pitch so it's one to relish."