Falkirk  (A)  Bells League Championship - Saturday 22 January 2000  Match report by Roving Ross Lafferty Final Score   Falkirk  2   Saints  0 The odd win can do strange things to some people and in particular football club managers. Occasionally it will lead to the man in charge overstating the ability of a certain player or making a wild claim as to how much potential their side has. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Scottish First division. Following on from Bert Paton’s / Dick Campbell’s many displays of arrogance and Gordon Dalziel’s classic “there isn’t a better team in this division than us” we now have Alex Totten going over familiar ground with “we are the best team in the league”. Will they ever learn? Sure, Falkirk took all three points once again when Saints travelled to Brockville but I’m still of the opinion that Valium should be distributed amongst our first division rivals in advance of our matches. Certainly the drug seemed to be in use yesterday but unfortunately only by the visiting players as for the second time this season Falkirk caught them napping in the early stages to take the lead. After threatening in the opening few minutes they opened the scoring on the six minute mark mainly thanks to the powerful running of David Hagen from midfield. He picked the ball up on the left and swung a pass out to the right for Andy Lawrie before sprinting into the box and meeting the resultant cross at the back post. Although his header rebounded back off the woodwork it fell straight to John Henry whose shot found it’s way through three defenders and into the net. It was a goal which should have sparked Saints into life but they struggled to create any openings and had Derek Scrimgour to thank for keeping them in the game when he pulled off a fine save from Davie Nicholls long range drive. The one chance they did have in the first half fell to Steven McGarry who actually managed to put the ball in the net after rounding Myles Hogarth in the Falkirk goal but much to the visiting fans dismay his effort was disallowed for a foul in the build up which only referee Jim McCluskey managed to spot. After the break things improved a great deal and Iain Nicolson missing a golden opportunity when Junior Mendes’s cutback found him in space 15 yards from goal. Although normally so reliable in front of goal he failed to hit the target as his shot went narrowly wide.  Mark Yardley should also have scored when in the 53rd minute he headed an Ian Ross cross towards goal but his effort was caught with reasonable ease by Hogarth. Saints were left to rue these two missed opportunities as 13 minutes later the home side added a second when Kevin Christie pounced on a loose ball inside the box to rifle home his first goal of the season. Moments later, Barry Lavety, who had been brought on a minute before the goal for Steven McGarry, looked to have an excellent claim for a penalty when he was hacked down inside the box by the ‘keeper but despite being in a good position to view the incident, McCluskey waved play on. It was clear that it just wasn’t St Mirren’s day when a Junior Mendes effort was fumbled by Hogarth only to spin over the top of the incoming Mark Yardley in the last ten minutes. Then as the clock ticked away Ross was sent clear only to somehow chip the ball over the bar from 12 yards. St.Mirren: Scrimgour, Nicolson, Ross, Turner, McLaughlin, Walker, Baltacha (Bowman 72), Brown, McGarry (Lavety 65), Mendes, Yardley  Sub not used: Rudden Falkirk: Hogarth, Lawrie, McQuilken, Den Bieman, Christie, Nicholls, McKenzie, McDonald, Hutchison, Henry, Hagen  Subs not used: Seaton, Rennie, McStay Sizzling Saint: The first 45 minutes could almost be ruled out entirely in a bid to look for this weeks sizzling saints as only in the second half did any Saints player start to perform. Over the entire game though only one player found any sort of consistency - Iain Nicolson.   Derek Scrimgour and Ian Ross also played reasonably well but the latter’s glorious miss in the dying moments and Scrim’s poor kicking ruled them both out of contention.