Falkirk 6, Cowdenbeath 0.

SPFL Championship Attendance-3446 AFTER a series of good performances this was as poor as Cowden have been all season.

Falkirk, after some ordinary shows themselves, produced a devastating display of finishing after grabbing a goal in only three minutes.

That clearly took the pressure off the Bairns and they started to play some good stuff on the Westfield atro-turf and Cowdenbeath ended up chasing shadows all Saturday afternoon.

The midfield were totally out of it for the entire first-half as the home side attacked at will and Sean Higgins and Kudus Oyenuga seldom saw the ball in a dangerous situation.

The defence, which had performed so manfully at Dumbarton and Alloa, found the pressure building after the early Falkirk goal and just could not keep the hard working homesters at bay.

It was an unchanged Blues side and in the first minute Higgins had a great chance close in after good work by Callum Gallagher, but he slipped the ball wide and in the fourth minute the visitors found themselves a goal down.

The Bairns swarmed forward and from less than eight yards out Rory LOY found enough space to fire the ball past Robbie Thomson after a cut-back from David Smith.

This settled Falkirk and they started to dominate possession and Thomson had to be on the alert on several occasions and in 18 minutes it was 2-0.

Jon Robertson fouled Loy and from the free-kick SMITH’s cross-cum-shot flew into the net.

With the midfield completely out of it the Cowdenbeath defence was under increasing pressure and Thomson pulled off a good save from Smith and then Loy’s effort went over.

Cowden were struggling to make any progress and in 35 minutes they were three down. Craig Sibbald set up the chance for Alex COOPER and his shot from the middle of the box beat Thomson.

Three minutes later the Blue Brazil were four in arrears. A corner posed Cowden problems and there was Peter GRANT lying handy to tuck the ball away with the visiting defence caught out.

At the break Iain Campbell, who had been booked, was replaced by Dean Brett and Lewis Milne went on for Chris Kane.

However, it was business as usual as firstly Loy saw a shot blocked by Darren Brownlie and then Smith’s effort was held by Thomson.

But six minutes into the half goal number five arrived. Smith’s cross caught out the Cowdenbeath defence and Dave McCRACKEN headed past Thomson.

In 75 minutes Cowden had their best opening when Callum Gallagher found Oyenuga and his shot roared just wide, but with seven minutes to go, at the other end, Falkirk sub Botti Bai Bi saw his effort come back off Thomson’s post and then in the 92nd minute Will VAULKS completed a bad day for Cowden with a well struck shot from a Sibbald pass which went in from the edge of the box.

Falkirk: MacDonald (7); Shaughnessy (7), Leahy (7); Grant (6), McCracken (7), Vaulks (7); Cooper (6) (Taiwo (3)), Alston (7) (Bia Bi 82 (3)), Loy (8), Smith (7) (Shepherd 70 (3), Sibbald (9). Subs not used, Bowman, Maybury, Blair and McGeever.

Cowdenbeath: Robbie Thomson (6); Kyle Miller (6), Ian Campbell (4) (Dean Brett 46 (5)); Thomas O’Brien (5) (Craig Sutherland 62 (3)), Darren Brownlie (5), Marcus Fraser (5); Jon Robertson (5), Chris Kane (4) (Lewis Milne 46 (5)), Kudus Oyenuga (6), Sean Higgins (5), Callum Gallagher (5). Subs not used, Nat Wedderburn, Declan Hughes, Colin Marshall and Thomas Flynn.

Referee- Steven McLean (7).