Falkirk 5, Cowdenbeath 0.

SPFL Championship Attendance-2830 A SERIES of injuries left the Cowdenbeath defence in tatters before the interval and Falkirk took advantage to put the game out of sight.

The loss of Thomas O’Brien, Nat Wedderburn and Chris Kane before the hour mark completely derailed the Cowden challenge at Westfield on Saturday.

Wedderburn was first to go before O’Brien had to limp off, both at 2-0, and Kane followed just after the break.

It left the team short of back men and the result was that the home side were able to make use of the extra space they found up front.

Cowdenbeath did create a few chances, and kept working hard, and in the closing minutes they came close to pulling one or two back.

But all in all the only plus that came from the game was that target club Alloa were also well beaten.

Falkirk have not given up hope of pulling themselves into the Championship rush for instant promotion and they closed to four points on the top two with the win.

The Bairns opened the game in lively fashion and in eight minutes Seb Usai made a good save from a Mark Millar shot.

But seven minutes later the home side took the lead. The visiting defence was caught out by Rory LOY who found the necessary space to fire a left foot shot into the left hand corner of the net.

This saw Falkirk take a lot of confidence and Millar’s right foot shot flew just wide but in 27 minutes the second Bairns goal arrived.

Craig Sibbald teed up LOY and his fierce shot flew into the right hand corner of Usai’s net.

Cowden were in trouble and things got worse two minutes later when Wedderburn had to be replaced by Kane but in 35 minutes Cowden forced a corner and skipper John Armstrong’s header flew high towards the net but Michael McGovern made a good save.

Then shortly after O’Brien had to go off to be replaced by Jordan Morton and within seconds it was 3-0. Blair ALSTON did the damage with a right foot shot which beat Usai after the ‘keeper’s misplaced clearance gave him the chance.

Cowden got to the break without further damage but their challenge was in tatters and three minutes into the second-half it was 4-0.

Millar did the spadework and his assist set-up SIBBALD’s fine left foot shot which beat the ‘keeper.

In 53 minutes the game was speeding away from the Fifers when Mark Beck’s pass gave LOY the chance to complete his hat-trick which he did in style with his shot finding the bottom right corner and Cowden’s problems got worse when Jon Robertson had to replace Kane.

Things could not be blacker for the Blue Brazil but they kept working hard and in 72 minutes Greg Stewart’s shot went just over then a Dean Brett drive was blocked.

In 79 minutes Morton went close and then in the closing ten minutes Stewart and Kane Hemmings both went close to grabbing some consolation.

Falkirk: McGovern (7); Vaulks (6), Kingsley (7); Chalmers (6), McCracken (7), Alston (7); Sibbald (6) (Leahy 66 (3)), Millar (7), Loy (9), Beck (7) (Durojalye 59), McGrandles (6) (Small 72 (3)). Subs not used, Flynn, Bowman, Hogg and Shepherd.

Cowdenbeath: Seb Usai (5); Dean Brett (5), Rory McKeown (6); Thomas O’Brien (4) (Jordan Morton 38 (5)), John Armstrong (6), Nat Wedderburn (4)(Chris Kane 29 (4) Jon Robertson 53 (4); S Stewart (5), Kyle Miller (6), Kane Hemmings (5), Greg Stewart (5), Lewis Milne (6). Subs not used, Jamie Stevenson, David Gold, Liam Callaghan and Thomas Flynn.

Referee- Don Robertson (6).