RAY McKinnon insists Falkirk can still mastermind a great escape as the Bairns boss vowed there will be more twists and turns in the Ladbrokes Championship fight for survival.
A dismal display 2-0 defeat in their pivotal clash with fellow strugglers Morton on Saturday saw McKinnon’s men slump to the foot of the table with just two games left to play.
To make their situation even more stark, those fixtures are against the division’s pace-setters, Dundee United and Ross County.
Indeed, Falkirk could officially be relegated if they lose to United at Tannadice this weekend and results elsewhere go against them.
READ MORE: John Greig: Billy McNeill was a friend, a leader and a gentleman who will never be forgotten
That would be a particularly cruel twist of fate for McKinnon, who represented the Tayside club over two spells as a player, making 122 appearances, before a 17-month stint as manager from May 2016.
However, the 48-year-old is refusing to consider the worst case scenario as he issued a rallying cry to his side.
McKinnon said: “There are ALWAYS twists and turns. Always. And I’m certain there will be some to come in this fight.
“There are six points to play for and we want them all. Why can’t we? Why not? We’ll be drumming that into the players.
“I know I am approaching the United game with real positivity and we’ll have the team thinking the same way.
“We have been in this dogfight all season. That threat [relegation] has been there for us all the while, so that’s not new. We have been near the bottom of the league all season and have kept fighting. Saturday will be no different.
“We’ve got a great away record this season and we’ll go up there ready to give everything and believing that we can get the result.
"There are six points still to play for and we’ll try to get all six. We won’t stop scrapping.”
And McKinnon is adamant unity will be required for the Bairns to beat the drop.
Supporters were audibly disgruntled as Falkirk slipped to a costly reverse against Morton, with chants of ‘sack the board’ clear as some fans rebelled against those who have overseen the club’s decline over the past 18 months.
But McKinnon said: “I don’t want to get drawn on anything to do with the board or anything like that. My job is to focus on the football and nothing else.
"We need togetherness right now - a united front.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel