WHO better to ask about play-off prospects than Aaron Muirhead, writes Duncan Hare.
The Falkirk captain was at the heart of the club’s exhilarating promotion push the previous two seasons, from the extraordinary highs of the incredible late semi-final victory over Hibernian in 2015/2016 to the crushing lows of the heavy defeat to Kilmarnock in the final just over a week later and the late loss to Dundee United in the semis last year.
There will, Muirhead concedes, be no Ladbrokes Premiership play-offs for Falkirk, second in both previous campaigns but seventh, nine points off fourth spot, this season.
“No, I think the start of the season killed us,” said the 27-year-old defender of play-off ambitions.
“Our aim is to finish as high up the table as we can and keep the distance between us and Dumbarton,” he added of an entirely different kind of play-off that Falkirk at one point feared they might be involved in.
Yet, despite the clichés of one game at a time trotted out by manager David Hopkin and goalkeeper Neil Alexander after their 0-0 draw with Falkirk on Saturday, it is as certain as St Mirren winning the division that second-placed Livingston will get their own shot at play-off glory come May.
Promoted as League 1 champions just last year, Livingston have indeed “overachieved” in a “phenomenal” season, as Alexander said.
Asked, however, if Livingston could do what Falkirk have failed to and re-enter the top flight through the play-offs, Muirhead was, at first, as guarded as his defensive display.
“I think there’s a lot of good teams amongst the play-offs,” Muirhead said.
But he continued: “They’re a very tough team to play against and I suppose on their day they’re capable of beating anybody. They’re very well drilled and they know how to play.
“They’re not second in the league for no reason.
“You come up against them and it’s tough and they’re hard to break down and they’ve got good strikers who can take chances.”
That Livingston’s substitute striker Lee Miller didn’t take the best of the chances in a game where playing on the deck seemed a health and safety concern due to the freezing conditions and a pitch so rutted it more resembled farmland than a football field, was down to Muirhead.
Falkirk’s captain was alert enough to retreat to the goal-line and divert the ball over the bar when another of Livingston’s substitutes, Raffaele De Vita, crossed with just minutes remaining and Muirhead’s former team-mate Miller seemed certain to be celebrating heading the winner.
“I was happy to see it go over when I cleared it,” said Muirhead.
That Livingston “have a certain style”, as Falkirk manager Paul Hartley said, is indisputable.
Well-organised they are, but that style could also be described as, well, agricultural. More Rory Delap than Pep Guardiola considering the amount Livingston defender Alan Lithgow picked up the ball to hurl it towards the Falkirk penalty area.
“They’ve got six big boys and I think they must have had about 20 long throws, so it was one of those you need to roll your sleeves up and make sure you’re up for first and second balls,” commented Muirhead.
For Alexander, keeping Livingston second is the goal.
“We’ve got a style and we do it well and teams are starting to cotton on to how we play and every game is becoming more of a battle these days,” the former Rangers goalkeeper, who recently turned 40, said.
Yet if playing in that manner wins the play-off battle, Livingston will indeed celebrate in style.
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