Copyright falkirkherald
Falkirk gaffer John McGlynn hailed Dundee matchwinner Connor Allan’s “incredible” last-gasp goal - but admitted that the ex-Rangers academy prospect wouldn’t have been anywhere near the Bairns’ starting XI if he wasn’t faced with an injury crisis. The 21-year-old, who was playing for Scottish League One side Kelty Hearts last season, was thrown in for his first top-flight start last Saturday with Lewis Neilson joining Tom Lang and Coll Donaldson on the treatment table after the Motherwell win. And the makeshift centre-back took his chance, playing a key role in Falkirk’s comeback 2-1 win over Steven Pressley’s team. Allan not only scored a sensational winner - but impressed in general alongside Liam Henderson at the back. "It was an amazing, incredible bit of skill,” his boss McGlynn beamed. “It's goal of the week, goal of the month and maybe even goal of the season - for a centre-back, who was making his full debut and his first start. I'm as honest as the day is long. He's only in because we've got injuries. We've got Lewis Neilson out, Coll Donaldson out and Tom Lang out. All three are right centre-backs. Connor went in and played exceptionally well and he'll never forget that goal. I take my hat off to Connor. He's a young boy who has come through the youth set-up at Rangers. Somewhere along the line, it seems like it was decided that he wouldn't be a centre-back and he goes to Kelty and plays as a central midfielder. We liked what we saw. We did a bit of business in January and we kept him at Kelty. Unfortunately he picked up an injury there and didn't play an awful lot. We had a few decisions we could have made over the team but thankfully we went with that one. He's a good player but I didn't see that coming. That could have been a winger or an attacking player. The skill that he's done is frightening. Taking the goal aside, he defended and played very well, so delighted for him and delighted for the whole team. We all had to dig in and get a result." On the win, which saw Falkirk come from behind in the second half after Clark Robertson’s header was cancelled out by an own goal by the same player thanks to Ethan Williams’ dangerous cross, McGlynn says his side need to keep on building their points total in the Premiership after earning their maiden home victory. He said: “Everyone was buzzing. It was our first home win and the nature of the (winning) goal. There honestly wasn’t much in the first half. Dundee kicked it long and it was difficult with the ball in the air. Balls going into the box from long-throws can be difficult to deal with but it’s part of the game. We didn’t create an awful lot but Scott Bain wasn’t troubled too much either. It was disappointing to lose a goal from a set-play. We don’t defend the corner. Second half, it was similar to Motherwell. We started well and took the game to Dundee. We were on the ascendency and started using our width to get balls into the box. We actually had opportunities to get the goal back quicker than we did. After that we had the confidence to go on. We’ve have Saturday home matches coming up and we need to build on this and keep on going.”
