THE Paisley party was rudely interrupted by Falkirk who secured their Ladbrokes Championship status with two goals in the last seven minutes.

There was almost an air of inevitability that this would be a flat occasion for the newly-crowned champions.

However, they should have been able to hold onto their lead that had been supplied by ex-Bairn Myles Hippolyte.

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Joe McKee levelled and then Craig Sibbald won it for Falkirk, meaning that Dumbarton are in the Championship play-offs.

Delighted Falkirk boss Paul Hartley said: “We’ve managed to keep ourselves in the division but we have to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.

“It’s been a tough season. We didn’t expect the rebuilding job to be quite as big but we have managed to retain our Championship status.

“Now we have to make sure that we’re the team that’s heading to the Premiership next season or at least give ourselves a proper chance.

“We need to make sure we are strong enough to make a proper challenge.”

There is little doubt that St Mirren could have done without this game. 

The euphoria of last Saturday was a sight to see as hundreds spilled onto the pitch to celebrate a magnificent title win,

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Next Saturday will be equally enjoyable as they will be presented with the trophy when their opponents are none other than great rivals Morton.

It was little surprise, therefore, that Jack Ross made eight changes to the side that secured promotion and even Massimo Donati got the chance to make his St Mirren debut.

To say they were off the pace was an understatement but Falkirk, who had sportingly given Saints a guard of honour before kick-off, could not take any advantage in a poor first half.

St Mirren looked more like it after the break and they went ahead as a result of the award of a controversial penalty.

Alan Muir judged that Paul Watson had illegally stopped Danny Mullen from getting on the end of Ian McShane’s whipped free kick.

Hippolyte sent Robbie Thomson the wrong way to score his first Saints goal since leaving Falkirk in January.

He nearly scored again in 59 minutes when he connected with Stelios Demetriou’s cross but Thomson made a fine save.

Then in 73 minutes sub keeper Conor Hazard made a great stop from Jack Baird’s header.

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McKee suffered a shocking miss when he shot past from four yards and Lewis Kidd had a spotkick saved by St Mirren goalkeeper Craig Samson in 82 minutes after Jack Baird had brought down Watson.

It looked bleak for the Bairns but they got the leveller a minute later when McKee followed up to slam the ball home after Kevin O’Hara’s header had come off the bar.

Then they won it in the dying seconds to the joy of the bench when Sibbald cut in from the right and slammed a right foot shot past Samson.

Jack Ross wasn’t best pleased that his newly-crowned champions let a lead slip so late in the game.

The St Mirren manager said: “I’m not happy. Regardless of team selection we were 1-0 up with six or seven minutes to go.

“We can’t accept that losing at home is okay. The players are disappointed and so they should be.

“We have set high standards and just because we have won the league they shouldn’t drop.”

In the only other game in the division last night, a double from Scott McDonald and goals from Billy King, Scott Fraser and Bilel Mohsni earned Dundee United a 5-0 triumph at Brechin City, who now only have two attempts left to try and register their first league win of the season.

For United, it was another important three points that puts them three above Dunfermline and just a point behind second-placed Livingston in the play-off spots. Livingston, however, do have a game in hand on United. 

Dumbarton and Inverness Caledonian Thistle will try again tonight after last night’s game was called off due to a waterlogged pitch. 
In League 2, fourth-placed Stenhousemuir could only manage a 0-0 draw at Berwick Rangers, who remain in ninth position.