Falkirk ...........................1 St Johnstone ...............4
FALKIRK came crashing back to earth with a bump on Saturday, but there were no words of criticism from manager Alex Totten for the players who just a few days before had beaten Celtic to take the club into their first Scottish Cup final for 40 years.
It should have been something of a gala day with the finalists taking on the first division champions, and early indications were that we would see something special.
Phil Scott put Saints ahead after just two minutes after some classy leading up work by John Colquhoun, Roddy Grant, and Steve Tosh. Three minutes later, Gerhard Fellner equalised with a powerful header from a Kenny Ward corner.
It all went rather flat for Falkirk after that and they finished a very tired looking outfit, going down to a magnificent double strike by Grant and another goal from Scott.
''I had to make a few changes,'' said Totten. ''But there's no way I'm going to criticise the players. They gave everything they had against Celtic on Wednesday night and there was always going to be a reaction to that. Their legs just went in the second half.'' He looked on with some mixed feelings, because the men who struck the crucial blows, Scott and Grant, were both signed by him when he was manager at Perth.
''I signed Phil Scott when he was just 15,'' said Totten, ''and I signed up Roddy Grant for his first spell with St Johnstone. Paul Sturrock then brought him back, and Roddy is doing just as good a job for him as he did for me.''
With manager Sturrock ''scouting'' in England, it was left to his assistant John Blackley to sum up a superb performance from Grant. ''He is a better professional now than at any other stage of his career,'' he said.
Totten explained the mystery of why he substituted Jamie McGowan after only 19 minutes. He had been booked, and another yellow or red card would have meant him missing the Scottish Cup final.
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