IN the not-so-distant past, success for a football club tended to be measured by how much silverware was on display at the front of the team photo come the start of the next campaign.
For smaller clubs there was maybe pride to be taken from reaching a cup final, or avoiding relegation by the skin of their teeth. Almost everything was quantifiable.
In the modern game, however, the parameters of changed. And thus the bigger Barclays Premier League clubs can, without a hint of embarrassment or shame, boldly announce that their goal for the coming season is to finish fourth, even resting players for cup quarter- or semi-finals if it means keeping them fresh for league games. Fourth means a place in the Champions League qualifiers, now apparently more desirable than actually trying to win something.
In Scotland the goalposts have moved, too. In the Premiership the aim now for those with no realistic prospect of winning the title is to reach the top six. Unlike its English equivalent, there is no real prize for achieving this fairly modest target beyond a greater share of the prize pot and the chance to face the champions-elect one further time. It is barely worth breaking out the bunting for but at least having some kind of objective - no matter how arbitrary - is better than month after month of largely meaningless fixtures.
The landscape has also shifted in the Scottish Championship recently, and there is considerably more at stake now than their top-tier counterparts. Where once only the eventual champions had their efforts rewarded, the long-awaited introduction of a promotion play-off has reinvigorated the division. With just 15 games remaining for some, nine of the 10 sides have something tangible to play for.
Fourth in the Championship, then, is the new first for those who never had a realistic chance of finishing first in the, erm, first place. And so on a bitterly cold January afternoon, a contest between Falkirk and Queen of the South that just two years earlier would have carried as much significance as a chimpanzee's views on world affairs was competitively contested throughout and for good reason. If the assumption is the big three of the Championship - Hearts, Rangers and Hibernian - will fill the top three places in that order, then the fourth and final play-off play is very much up for grabs. Queen of the South continue to occupy that slot following this 1-1 draw but Falkirk, two points behind, will continue to push them all the way, with Raith Rovers also retaining an outside chance.
Peter Houston, the Falkirk manager, later played down the importance of this result with just under half the season still to go, but there will be a sense of frustration that they were not able to secure the victory that would have lifted them into that much-coveted fourth place.
They were dominant for large spells, took a first-half lead through Rory Loy's penalty, had a raft of other chances, and played the final 25 minutes against just 10 men after Mark Durden was sent off for handling a Loy shot on the goal line. The former Rangers forward, however, couldn't convert his second spot kick - lashing it against the crossbar - and despite some sustained late pressure, Falkirk ended up settling for a draw. Loy, though, was sanguine about his afternoon's work.
"It's disappointing of course, having created so much, not to win," he said. "But you could argue that a few weeks ago against Alloa [Athletic] we hardly created anything and got a 1-0 win. It's disappointing to miss a penalty and not win the game when they had 10 men - their keeper made a great save from [Alex Cooper] near the end. Two weeks ago we created nothing and I came away with the winner, and today I'm the villain. That's just the way football goes."
Loy concedes that Hearts will likely finish as champions, with Rangers as runners-up. The striker, however, does not go along with the theory that Hibs will definitely take third place, or that only his side and Queens will contest fourth.
"I think Hearts and Rangers will finish first and second respectively. We've played Hibs three times and taken seven points, arguably could have had all nine. So to say that Hibs will definitely finish above us - at this point in time that would be doing us a disservice.
"Similarly, Raith won again and we and Queens only drew so counting them out [for fourth] would be a bit disrespectful."
Queens, who equalised through a low Iain Russell drive following a corner, were not unhappy to leave the Falkirk Stadium with a draw. "It was a good point for us after going behind and having a man sent off," said captain Chris Higgins. "We'll move on to next week now."
Match stats
16' 1-0 Rory Loy scores the penalty after he was impeded in the box by Mark Durnan.
54' Mark Durnan sweeps John Baird's shot off the line via the post.
56' 1-1 Iain Russell drills in a low shot after Falkirk fail to clear a Queens corner.
65' Mark Durnan sent off for blocking Loy's shot on the line with his arm. Loy strikes the subsequent penalty against the crossbar.
82' James Atkinson makes a great save to keep out an Alex Cooper shot.
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