Falkirk have extended their unbeaten league start to the season to eight games with a comprehensive 3-0 win over a disappointing Clyde at Broadwood this afternoon – with Charlie Telfer putting in another impressive performance for Lee Miller and David McCracken’s side.
The Bairns made two changes from last week’s 2-1 win over Peterhead, Robbie Mutch coming back into the side at the expense of PJ Morrison and Aidan Connolly replacing Blair Alston – while the hosts were in action for the first time in three weeks after Covid-related issues saw a number of players forced into isolation.
Both sides struggled to get control of the game in the opening 15 minutes with a number of hopeful long balls going in either direction – although Falkirk looked slightly more likely to make something happen on the few occasions they got the ball down and tried to play.
Falkirk almost put themselves in front with 20 minutes gone through Callumn Morrison; Anton Dowds doing some excellent work down the left before hanging the ball up for Morrison but the former Hearts man couldn’t generate enough power in his header to trouble Vajs.
The table-toppers started to dictate the tempo a bit more and finally managed to break the deadlock in the 30th minute through Charlie Telfer.
Ben Hall’s long diagonal was knocked down for the former Rangers and Dundee United midfielder, taking a couple of touches to get the ball out from under his feet then driving it low into the bottom corner.
Clyde thought they’d equalised just minutes after falling behind when David Goodwillie headed home really well but the far-side official had his flag up for a very tight offside call.
Goodwillie again found himself with an excellent chance to score right on half-time, finding half-a-yard behind Scott Mercer but couldn’t quite keep his header down and the sides went in at the break with Falkirk in the lead.
The second 45 started in far more entertaining fashion than the first; both sides getting the ball down and looking to ty and play through the other instead of aimlessly punting long balls forward.
It was again Falkirk who looked most likely to add to the scoreline and Charlie Telfer almost doubled his tally straight from a corner kick before Vajs managed to claw it out.
The resulting set-piece was converted though as Scott Mercer got on the end of Telfer’s corner and headed the ball home and finish Clyde off.
Four minutes after Mercer made it 2-0, his defensive colleague Ben Hall knocked a loose ball into the back of the net as the Clyde defence were all over the place at another set-piece.
Clyde fashioned a chance or two as the game headed to the final whistle – Dixon using his body to clear off the line – but Robbie Mutch had very little to do on his return to the side after a couple of weeks sidelines.
With title rivals Cove Rangers slipping up away to Dumbarton, it sees Partick Thistle move into second in the table, six points behind the Bairns as they head into the crunch festive period.
Clyde: Vajs, Bain, Shiels, Rumsby, Cuddihy, Syvertsen, Lamont, Goodwillie, Love, Cunningham, Lang
Subs: McGee, Howie, Robertson, Henderson, Jack, Nicoll, Trialist
Falkirk: Mutch; Mercer, Dixon, Hall, Kelly, Gomis, Telfer, Connolly, C Morrison, Sammon, Dowds
Subs: PJ Morrison, Durnan, Francis, G Miller, Todd, Leitch, Deveney, Laverty, L Miller