SOMETIMES football clubs claim to have familial credentials, writes Thomas Williams.
They might not have branded it as such, but there’s certainly a strong sense of family at Falkirk. Each Saturday, old father time, Alex Smith, stares sagely from the technical area, with a grandfatherly warmth, a wise old head steering Steven Pressley in the right direction in his managerial pursuits.
Subsequently, Pressley has a fatherly presence, a direct and key influence over the young players in his control. They are just kids, but they are his kids for an hour and a half on a Saturday after they have had a run-around pre-match with Uncle Lee Bullen. It is the generation game, with a conveyor belt of younger players.
But what of the mums? Well, a gaggle of them wait in the stadium foyer at full-time to check the young first-team players have washed behind their ears and haven’t picked up their pals’ jumper before taking them home for their tea.
But Falkirk’s family credentials were most evident when the newest and youngest member of the team, Craig Sibbald, was stretchered off during the victory over Queen of the South with an ankle injury. With a collective sympathy, practically every player gave the youngster a consoling pat, a squeeze of the shoulder or a quiet word of reassurance as the ambulance staff plodded off the park with the 16-year-old prone on a stretcher.
The youngest in this case, as Morrissey once sang, appeared the most loved and the concern etched across his team-mates’ faces as Sibbald was carried from the field said a lot about Falkirk and their tightly bonded squad. They could be a family, and Sibbald was replaced by Jay Fulton, a player who he has spent his formative years alongside in the club’s Academy system.
“It’s a sore one for Craig. The boys all felt really sorry for him because he’s so young and that’s his first injury. Hopefully he’ll have a speedy recovery,” said club captain Darren Dods, who scored the only goal late in injury time.
The head of the Falkirk Stadium household was certainly pained at the misfortune to befall the youngest and most prodigious of his litter, even if his side took the spoils. “It was a dramatic ending to the game, a terrific result, a terrific performance but just hindered by the injury suffered by Craig,” said Pressley. “He’s only 16 and it is a concern.”
Pressley’s gaze was downcast and the injury obviously played on his mind more than the joy of witnessing his team steal three points in a clattering climax. The injury transpired to be less serious than feared, a severely sprained ankle as opposed to a broken one, but Sibbald was as discussed a topic post-match as the dramatic acts of the 94th and 95th minutes of the match. Mark Millar had a penalty kick saved by Lee Robinson, before sending the resultant corner on to the head of Dods for the winner, and sending the media into hasty rewrites of copy.
While fingers slammed keyboards, Messrs Pressley and Smith were entertaining Andy Millen, the Queens assistant manager, in an adjoining room with bottles of wine and mineral water. The kids, obviously, were barred from this adult get-together, as was Dods. The effervescent defender is only a year Pressley’s junior, and old enough to be the father of some of his team-mates. His zest for the game makes him young at heart, though, and even he has a big brotherly role in the team, as well as that of captain.
“It was great to score the goal, I go up for so many corners and I’m glad to finally head one – I thought we’d missed our chance,” said the 36-year-old defender.
Dods’ late winner was facilitated by a sixth minute of injury time. The Falkirk family had old father time on their side. Or Alex Smith as he’s known in these parts.
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