And so, after 36 matches, a sluggish start and a burst of form from December onwards, it is mission accomplished and we have qualified for the Premiership Promotion Playoffs. These next three weeks could be massive for us, having not played at Scottish football`s top level since a two season sjourn that ended in 1964, we are six fixtures away from the Premiership but getting there will take a massive collective effort, starting on Tuesday night at Falkirk.
The Bairns had the better of our four league clashes this season, winning three of them, but they were all very close and the aggregate score over four games was 5-4 to Falkirk.There was plenty of encouragement in those four games though to suggest we have no reason to fear them. We won the first Palmerston meeting 2-0 and struck woodwork twice on our way to losing the second one 2-1. The away games finished 2-1 and 1-0 to the Bairns, both games including a penalty given away.
This is our first ever foray into post season playoffs and will be our first two legged domestic tie in 30 years since the days when the League Cup was a two legged affair so the concept of 90 minutes being "half time" in the tie will be a novel one. It`s not something Falkirk are especially used to either though so inexperience shouldn`t offer any disadvantage.
Following yesterday`s dramatic draw at Cowdenbeath Gavin Reilly has been ruled out for the next few weeks with ruptured ankle ligaments. Chris Mitchell also suffered an ankle injury during the half time warm up on what was certainly not the most level of surfaces but will be ok to play on Tuesday, though he will be suspended for the second leg on Saturday as a result of the booking collected against Livingston last week. Stephen McKenna`s season does now appear to be over with a hip problem from which he made a brief temporary comeback and it remains to be seen whether Michael Paton who suffered a tweaked hamstring in that Livingston game, will make it back into contention to face Falkirk in either leg also. Otherwise though everyone else is available with Mark Durnan and Derek Lyle returning from suspensions served against Cowdenbeath.
A reminder that normal league pricing applies to Tuesday night`s game and season ticket holders will need to purchase a ticket as the season books are no longer valid. As a result we expect the ticket offices to be busy on Tuesday so would encourage anyone who is able to get their ticket early. Over 250 tickets were sold today during the Arena Fun Day but the Arena Ticket Office will also be open between 11am and 1pm both tomorrow and Tuesday, and the Ticket Offices will open at 5:30pm on the night of the match. Kick off is at 7:45pm. Please come along and roar the team on!