Given football's status in Scottish life it was tempting, on the basis of this passionless encounter at Falkirk Stadium, to read something into the nature of our societal change.

With some 50 people huddled together in "the Cowdenbeath end" among an overall attendance of 1237, the contrast with what we were watching on the previous night's TV news invited odd conclusions.

Could we have reached a stage in our evolution that if we really care about our loved ones we should, at this time of year, encourage them to head to Scottish Cup ties rather than risk life and limb in the over-heated environs of the nation's shopping malls?

Certainly, the police wading into Tesco's on Friday night would surely have swapped places with the trio of yellow-clad security men who, assigned to that visiting contingent, performed their Strictly Come Guarding manoeuvres up and down that West Stand.

Meanwhile, in a town where I once witnessed supporters at the old Brockville hurl themselves at fencing while offering unlikely suggestions about what visitors from Stirling might do with their castle, emotions ranged from general disgruntlement and frustration to occasional expressions of mild frustration before concluding with a ripple of applause for the home side.

Ultimately, the predominant feeling for most in attendance, when Rory Loy's 73rd-minute shot was only half-blocked into the path of the unmarked Craig Sibbald, 16 yards out on the left, allowing the outstanding player afield to fire the ball through visiting goalkeeper Robbie Thomson's legs, was relief that there would be no replay.

Such atmosphere was, of course, never likely to stimulate repetition of Falkirk's best performance of the season, when sticking six past these same opponents a month earlier, while, doubtless still smarting , their visitors tucked in and stuck doggedly to their defensively oriented shape this time.

All of which, though, only contributed to Falkirk manager Peter Houston's satisfaction in offering understanding to both his players and those absent supporters.

"It's Christmas time and maybe people have to save their money, and I understand that, so we had to lift it ourselves," he acknowledged.

"It's £18 to get in and I think we tried to lower it, but Cowdenbeath obviously wanted to keep it as it is. When you can hear every player talking all the time it tells you there's not many people in the ground. I thought we played not bad football at times with no atmosphere."

Setting aside the relative capacity of this venue and the nearby Howgate to provide seasonal stimulation, there is a serious point to be considered here about the impact on the Scottish Cup and, in particular, season-ticket holders of maintaining gate prices at normal levels at this stage of the competition.

This being the entertainment business, dare might it have been better all round - at a club where the home attendance is normally more than 3000 - to halve prices, perhaps get more than twice as many in and help this cup-tie feel as meaningful as it should?

Houston's contention that "only one team came to win it", meanwhile, seemed largely borne out by the annoyance expressed by his counterpart, Jimmy Nicholl, when, though deeming them to have worked hard, he expressed disappointment in his team's competitiveness.

Even so, Cowdenbeath had almost as many clear-cut chances as their hosts, notably two in the same early sequence of play, seeing efforts from Kyle Miller and Marcus Fraser cleared off the line.

Late on they could have saved it too, Sean Higgins coming tantalisingly close from an acute angle after a mix-up between Will Vaulks and keeper Jamie MacDonald.

Falkirk's best chance prior to the decisive moment had seen Rory Loy draw a good diving save from Robbie Thomson late in the first half, while David Smith might have doubled their lead soon after Sibbald's goal, had the keeper not closed him down bravely and effectively.

Right at the end, too, Nat Wedderburn suddenly found himself confronting four opponents when the ball broke to Sibbald, who fed Loy, who unselfishly squared it to where substitutes Scott Shepherd and David Smith had, as Houston put it, "time to shake hands", before deciding that the latter could do the honours, only for him to blast the ball over the bar.

Listing all of which offers a distorted picture, however, since those opting for the shops doubtless had a more exciting afternoon in seeking out better bargains than this match offered on the day after Black Friday.