FALKIRK required steel as well as artistry to see off Queen of the South with a Rory Loy double to keep pace at the Championship summit.
The surprise was that the Bairns needed a penalty to make the breakthrough and then a late second from Loy to seal all three points after Iain Russell’s equaliser. Manager Gary Holt said: “The way they stood up to the test was excellent and Rory’s come up trumps with a great finish.”
Falkirk had probed incessantly, at one point forcing four consecutive corners without success, but they finally got the goal they deserved after Ian McShane handled Jay Fulton’s free-kick just inside the box.
Despite their first-half dominance, Falkirk had keeper Michael McGovern to thank for two superb saves from Russell either side of the break.
However, there was nothing the Northern Ireland internationalist could do when Queens equalised 11 minutes into the second period, Russell expertly arrowing a beautiful shot into the top corner.
Blair Alston’s net-bound shot was then blocked and a Craig Sibbald effort was booted off the line but Loy speared in his late winner from 20 yards on the break.
Queens manager Jim McIntyre speaking on the Queens Official Site
“I think we had enough chances to win the game in the second half.
“In the first half Falkirk bossed it, no doubt about that, they were the better side but our goalie didn`t have many saves to make. I thought we defended well but they definitely bossed it in terms of possession.
“In the second half we changed our system and I think that made the difference for us. We started to get a lot more opportunities, we created two great chances from corners but unfortunately couldn`t put them away. That`s been the way it`s been going of late so I`m really disappointed that we`ve not at least taken a point because I thought we were well worthy of that.”
Images courtesy of www.qosfc.com
Once again Queens played well in patches and deserved something from the match but errors in important areas cost us dearly.
Not sure where Queen's manager Jim McIntyre goes from here but he will have to have things sorted out for next week's crunch againt the Blue Brazil at Palmerston.