Falkirk boss in offside claim after Hibs victory as he makes Easter Road admission ahead of Hearts clash
The Falkirk boss has assessed his side’s defeat against Hibs.
John McGlynn reckons his Falkirk side could have had a goal chopped off incorrectly versus Hibs - as he assessed a 3-0 loss.
David Gray’s hosts returned to form with a Martin Boyle penalty and double from strike partner Kieron Bowie. It keeps them fifth and within touching distance of Rangers and Motherwell above them, but Bairns manager and ex-Hearts gaffer McGlynn reckons at 2-0, Falkirk had a moment go against them. Ethan Ross netted after the hour mark but his strike was chopped by VAR.
McGlynn feels the goal looked to have been onside after watching it back, with substitute Alfredo Agyeman feeding a ball through to Ross, who aimed to time his run perfectly. He did concede, however, that the first half ultimately merited a Hibs win as his attention turns to hosting Hearts next week.
Offside claim in Hibs vs Falkirk verdict
On the game, McGlynn said: “When I look at my monitor, which doesn't have lines, it looks like it's onside. Obviously, VAR is there to make sure these things are right. I think that would have given us a great lift, having played so well in the second half. It may well have made Hibs a little bit more edgy and a little bit more anxiety, which would have transmitted from the stadium. We were on top in the second half and I believe that if the goal is allowed rather than being disallowed, then 2-1 is game on.
“We were the better team in the second half, full stop. We've been a team very much in the ascendancy and it's a really good goal. We expected Hibs to have a go, they've lost their last two games, they're at home and they'll see us, a really promoted team, they're going to come at us. And for 33 minutes we managed to prevent them from scoring. We defended well, I mean Scott Bain didn't really have an awful lot to do.
“Then we were the makers of our own downfall, we lose the ball in our own half and it leads to the penalty. The second goal is similar, again we've got possession of the ball, keep it in our own half, we turn the ball over and it's a good finish, it's in off the post. It was really difficult for Scott to do anything about it. We had a couple of shots on target ourselves, their keeper’s made a couple of saves.
Hibs 3-0 Falkirk verdict
“But we knew we were going to go under pressure and we just had to try and retain possession a little bit better and work our way out. Hibs were set up to win the ball back high against a possession based team. They managed to do that on a couple of occasions and punish us. The second half, as you see, we had to make changes to freshen things up a little bit. Dylan was on a booking and we didn't really want him to get a second one. who he's liable to. Alfie going on gave us an option to go in behind. It wasn't to be and we gave it a goal.
“You're liable to get done with the type of goal when you're pushing and pushing. Simple ball of a channel, a little bit of speed and a ball in the middle. They're an amazing group of boys. We've worked with them for three and a half years now. More or less the core. We've done so well, we've got so many points on the board. We're happy with that. Coming to these places are going to be difficult for us. There's absolutely no doubt about that. I'm sure you've all looked at the stats.
“The stats are telling you that was near 3-0. There was only one short on target less. They had I don't know how many more passes than them. I know that managers get criticised for that. We all look at them now, don't we? Everyone looks at them, not just managers. Everyone looks at them and we'll have our opinion on that. The only stat that ever matters is the scoring. They were more clinical, maybe in the final third we'd have been better. We're not going to be too critical with the players. We're in a good position. We dust ourselves down and we've got Hearts at home next Saturday we'll get ourselves sorted out and prepared for that.”