Falkirk boss John McGlynn has called on his players to give one more push to win the Championship title, saying Friday’s result will decide if they’re partying in the sunshine next week, or back to work.
The Bairns are facing a huge match on Friday in the last game of the Championship season, knowing that a win at home to Hamilton will see them promoted to the Premiership as title winners.
However, with Livingston level on points but with a worse goal difference, any slip by Falkirk could see David Martindale’s side snatch the Championship trophy and leave McGlynn and his players having to plan for the play-offs to deliver on their promotion hopes.
The Falkirk boss admitted the stakes are high and with his side having stumbled towards the finish line with just one win in five games, he needs one more effort from his players.
“It’s the usual Championship stuff… last game of the season, everything to play for,” he told STV.
“It’s huge for the football club and could be historic to take the club back to the Premiership.
“There’s loads of positives from it [if we go up], we could probably put a youth system back in place, most of the guys haven’t played in the Premiership and would have that opportunity, there’s loads of motivation to make this happen.
“So we’ve got to give it one last push.”
After winning promotion back into the Championship last season, McGlynn admits he would have jumped at the chance to be within one game of the title but the recent form has frustrated him.
“We should have had this dead and buried so I’m a bit fed up with hearing it but it’s still true,” he said. “It’s a home game against a Hamilton team we played last season
“We know the circumstances they are in and I have great sympathy for John Rankin and all the staff, players and fans there.
“We have great sympathy for Hamilton but we’re obviously focused on the job we have to do.”
The veteran manager said those minds would be further focused by the difference of success meaning the holidays would start immediately or the hard work for the play-offs would begin.
“They can be here in Falkirk on Monday or they can be in Ibiza,” he said.
“There’s another motivation. They can be in here training for the play-offs or they can be partying.
“We’ve got to stay focused on the game, which we’ve done for the vast majority. We’ve been top of the league for so long and we don’t want to give that up now.
“We’ve got to play the way that we know we can play.
“We’ve got good players and we’ve just got to defend a little better than we have done recently.”
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