Falkirk's top-six finish 'an absolutely incredible achievement', says McGlynn

Falkirk boss John McGlynn hailed his side’s “incredible” achievement after securing a top-six finish in the Scottish Premiership.

Their 3-2 win at Motherwell saw the Bairns clinch a spot in the top half of the table with a game to spare on their return to the top flight after a 15-year absence.

Barney Stewart headed Falkirk into an early lead at Fir Park and after Elliot Watt had levelled for Motherwell, Ben Broggio restored the visitors’ lead and Calvin Miller converted a second-half penalty before Tawanda Maswanhise’s late consolation.

McGlynn said: “It’s an absolutely incredible achievement. I’m so proud of the players, they’ve given everything.

“You’ve seen that today, they’ve been like that virtually the whole season. They deserve to be in the top six.

“We’ve never ever went out and tried to spoil a game, stop a game. We’ve always been looking to attack and entertain, and I believe we’ve done that. We did that here today as well.”

In the end, Dundee United’s loss at Rangers would have seen the Bairns secure their top-half finish regardless of the result at Fir Park, but McGlynn was pleased to do it on their own terms.

He said: “That’s what we’ve been trying to do.

“We’ve come to a difficult place, we were the last team to win here in October. They’re a great side but it’s a nice feeling where we are right now.”

Motherwell counterpart Jens Berthel Askou heaped praise on the Bairns’ achievement while conceding his team were not quite at the races.

He said: “All credit to Falkirk, I think they’ve been fantastic this season and they deserve all the credit that is going their way.

“Congratulations to them and the job they have done. I think they are a credit to the league and to Scottish football.

“We know, when we play against the best teams in the league, we need to be at our very, very best and there were too many moments today where we gave the ball away in critical areas and then we also had our moments to score or to create an even bigger chance where we should have been sharper.”

And the Dane was adamant his side should have been given an early penalty for a challenge from Liam Henderson on Maswanhise.

He said: “I think for me the decisive moment is when JT gets wiped out, his standing leg from Henderson after, seven minutes. That’s a stonewall penalty.

“We have some images, and apparently we have better cameras than the most important cameras, the ones who are supposed to catch this. I really don’t understand why we can’t catch these things.

“He’s free, he takes a touch, his standing leg gets wiped out. That’s a penalty, and a potential red card that will change the game up completely.”