Pele once famously said that a penalty is a cowardly way to score, but it takes a brave striker to place the ball on the spot when Ayr United goalkeeper Greg Fleming is staring you down from 12 yards away.

Remarkably, Fleming’s penalty save from Falkirk’s John Baird on Saturday was his sixth of the season, with the keeper yet to concede a goal from any spot-kick he has faced during this campaign. Unfortunately for him, his defenders didn’t share his resolve for keeping the ball out of the net, and moments after the euphoria of denying Baird from the spot he was beaten as Peter Grant planted a free header behind him from Mark Kerr’s corner.

Ayr had been leading at The Falkirk Stadium, as Gary Harkins took advantage of a hesitant home defence to steal in and lash the ball home after rounding Danny Rogers. A frantic finale to the half saw Falkirk draw level, but not before the heroics of the visiting keeper.

“The boy hit the penalty well and I gambled and thankfully I managed to get a hand to it,” Fleming said. “It was a decent strike and that’s me saved six this season.

“I try and do a bit of research on penalty takers but there’s only so much you can do and sometimes a bit of luck comes into it.

“If you do your homework then it gives you a chance but you could go the complete opposite way so there is a lot of luck involved.

“It was just a pity we lost a goal right after the penalty save and it was right on half time. I’m not sure if we switched off after the penalty save. It was a great ball in and a great header. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up.

“I made a few saves but we dug in well and it’s a decent point because not many teams will take points at Falkirk. We can be relatively happy.

“We’re still seven points clear of St Mirren so it was a valuable point for us and hopefully we can build on that after our Scottish Cup tie next week.”

While second-bottom Ayr can be happy with their return from an entertaining game in Grangemouth, the feeling from the Falkirk camp was one of dissatisfaction. They should have been ahead early in the match with Myles Hippolyte and Tom Taiwo squandering good opportunities, but in truth, the visitors gave as good as they got once they had settled down and a point apiece was just about right in the end.

You may have expected Falkirk goalscorer Grant to have been pleased to have found the net at least, but it was the manner of the goal the defender played a part in conceding that occupied his thoughts after the whistle, and probably long into a sleepless night.

“My main concern is clean sheets,” Grant said. “The goal is a bonus. I want to get back to last season when we took a lot of pride in the number of clean sheets.

“David McCracken was trying to play it back to Danny Rogers,” he explained. “I’ve got to stay with Harkins all the way. Danny was in two minds whether to come or stay, Harkins got the toe on it and scored and we both know that we have to do better. We know that you can have all the play but little things still cost you.

“It was a relief to get the equaliser. I managed to find a bit of space in the box and got the goal. I’m just disappointed the game ended up a draw because we felt we had done enough with the chances we had. We’re frustrated.”

Grant is refusing to use the rust accrued from his eight-month layoff through a cruciate ligament injury as an excuse for the soft goals that Falkirk are currently conceding, and he knows that he and his fellow defenders will certainly be punished for any lapses against Jim Duffy’s in-form Morton side in Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie at Cappielow.

He said: “I’ve got no excuses any more, I’ve had a handful of games. I’ve got to get back to that level.

“It’s cut-throat and people forget about the injury as soon as you get back in the team and you’ve got to get your job done. I’m putting the work in during the week and the players need to make sure we’re doing our defensive drills.

“But it’s up to us to prove it when it matters on a Saturday. We know what we need to improve on offensively and defensively and we need to do it as quickly as we can and dust ourselves down for a tough cup game against Morton.

“Of course you nit-pick, but even before my injury I wasn’t fully satisfied even when people said I was doing well.

“I’m still young and learning. Even older players still make mistakes so I won’t be too harsh on myself. I’m confident in what I can do and bring to the team."