John McGlynn hails his battle-ready Falkirk squad after draw with Dundee United

Rhyl Journal

2 days ago

The Bairns won back-to-back promotions under their experienced boss and the fans watched the Championship flag being unfurled before the game, marking their return to the top flight after a 15-year absence.
On-loan Barnsley forward Max Watters scored his first United goal in the 39th minute with a terrific volley, but midfielder Dylan Tait levelled in the 50th minute with a fine finish.
Ivan Dolcek restored the Tannadice side's lead in the 71st minute with his first goal for the club before home defender Ethan Ross equalised with a deflected strike two minutes later for a deserved share of the spoils.
McGlynn said: 'I don't think we've got our eyes closed. We know that the margins are finer in this league.
'We'll all look to learn from that and we will need to learn from that. But there's so many positives to take.
'A lot of these players have played in League One, they've stepped up to the Championship dealt with that, and today, I think they looked like Premiership players against Premiership players.
'We were 15 years out of it, the same group of players almost, stepping up to the challenge, 5700 season tickets.
'Dundee United filled their allocation as well. So great atmosphere.
'People want to come and be entertained. That was entertainment. That was definitely entertainment.'
United boss Jim Goodwin was proud of his under-strength side's efforts in gaining a point after they had advanced to the Conference League third qualifying round against Rapid Wien with a 2-0 aggregate win over Luxembourg side UNA Strassen on Thursday night.
He said: 'It's really strange to be sitting here on the opening day of the season and talking about the number of injuries we have.
'But there's no getting away from it. There's no excuses here.
'We're missing some real key players. Our captain and vice-captain, Ross Graham and Will Ferry. Ferry was a suspension.
'Ryan Strain, Amar Fatah and Kristijan Trapanovski were all missing and they can be great options for us off the bench or starting the game.
'A draw away from home, more often than not in this league, is not a bad result.
'On the back of us playing in Europe on Thursday, with the short turnaround and the lack of recovery time, I think we've got to be satisfied with a point.
'It was only a couple of years ago we were travelling to Arbroath to kick off the Championship season.
'In the space of two years, we're slightly disappointed to pick up a point on the opening day of the Premiership but looking forward to a game in Europe against Rapid Wien.
'When you put things in perspective, we've come a long way in a short period of time.'
Ferry will be back from suspension for the midweek trip to Austria and Goodwin hopes some others will be available, although Trapanovski will see a specialist about his hamstring problem on Monday.