Falkirk 6 Morton 0: Ton hit self destruct as Bairns run riot

An utterly dominant first half performance saw the Bairns head into the break two goals up thanks to some brilliant finishes from Keelan Adams and Ethan Ross.

But an utterly astounding Morton collapse inside the opening ten minutes of the second half saw the Bairns race into a 5-0 lead before anyone could even blink to race six points clear at the top of the Championship as Morton were left just a singular point above the relegation play-offs.

Falkirk had Ton bang to rights (Image: Gary Bradley)

The mood heading to the Falkirk stadium couldn't have been lower in some sections of the Cappielow support but not even they could've seen what was about to happen.

A heavy defeat to Hamilton, followed by a narrow but yet a perhaps more harrowing defeat to Queen's Park on Tuesday night.

Injuries were mounting up and suspensions were kicking in. Dougie Imrie's Morton side were down to the bare bones and the ongoing injury crisis wasn't showing any signs of letting up any time soon.

Iain Wilson's sending off against the Spiders on Tuesday night meant that Imrie was without as many as nine players heading into the trip to the Falkirk Stadium.

Falkirk(4-2-3-1) Hogarth, Adams, Henderson, Graham, McCann, Spencer, Tait(Yeats), Ross(MacIver,60), Nesbitt(McKenna,65), Miller(Agyeman,60), Oliver(Morrison,60)

Subs not used: Hayward, Yeats, McCafferty, McCrone

Bookings:

Scorers: Adams(16) Ross(37) Spencer (47, PEN) Oliver(52) Miller(54)

Morton(4-2-3-1) Budinauckas, Blues, Baird, Broadfoot(Boyes,55), Delaney, Gillespie, Lyall, Garrity(Reynolds,58), McGinn(Davies,55), Moffat, Stuparevic(Samuels,74)

Subs not used: O'Boy

Bookings: Garrity(15) Baird(26) Stuparevic(73)

Ref: David Dickinson

MoTM: The 255 Ton fans in attendance. The majority of which stayed until the end on such a difficult afternoon for the Cappielow men.

ATT: 5708 (255)

But Imrie was able to welcome two bodies back to his side as his bench was now bolstered by the returning Morgan Boyes who provided some much needed defensive support and Lamar Reynolds, who'd missed the last few weeks through personal reasons.

And this meant that he was forced into only making a singular change to the side that lost out against Callum Davidson's side. Club captain Grant Gillespie came in for the suspended Wilson and he had big shoes to fill after the fan favourite's start to the season.

Falkirk on the other hand couldn't have come into the tie in any better shape as they sat pretty at the top of the league - with the knowledge that their closest competitors had dropped points the night before.

They also had the edge of knowing that they'd fought back from a two goal deficit to defeat Imrie's men at an overwhelmingly disappointing afternoon at Cappielow back in August.

Boasting an undefeated home record against Ton's hunt for a win on the road - one record had to fall sooner rather than later.

Falkirk might've had the majority of the opening stages - but Ton weren't here to make up the numbers as they forced home stopper Nicky Hogarth into a smart stop with seven minutes on the clock.

Garrity was a livewire in the opening stages (Image: Gary Bradley)

Calvin Miller's corner was cleared as far as Ethan Ross on the edge of the box but his volley towards goal was blocked by Jack Baird which sparked a fast break for Imrie's men.

Michael Garrity led the charge - working well with Owen Moffat and Filip Stuparevic to split Luke Graham and Liam Henderson and all that Garrity needed to do was make the right choice by slipping Stuparevic in.

The Serb tried his luck and saw his deflected effort loop into the path of Garrity whose first time effort forced Hogarth into a very smart stop at his near post.

The home side would make their pressure pay though with little over a quarter of an hour played - although their opener wasn't short of controversy.

Calvin Miller stood over a free-kick on the right hand side after Michael Garrity had tripped Keelan Adams.

The ex-Ton man's delivery was good and met what looked to be the marginally early run of both Brad Spencer and Keelan Adams, who looked to be offside, with the Falkirk full back heading home beyond Budinauckas unmarked - as Ton's good work looked to be unravelled.

Keelan Adams' opener had hints of offside about it (Image: Gary Bradley)

Falkirk's stoutness from set pieces looked to be causing a threat, as Ton struggled to handle a combination of good running and quick thinking. Brad Spencer's low ball into the front post was brilliantly flicked into the path of Calvin Miller by Gary Oliver - who's first time effort was well saved by Budinauckas.

John McGlynn's side were looking really dangerous as they probed Ton's right hand side. A quick combination between Ross and Gary Oliver looked to cut Imrie's defence open with Ross rushing onto a quick return inside Blues and Baird. His first time effort was well saved by Budinauckas, before his rebound was brilliantly blocked for a corner.

Garrity was a bright spark in a difficult opening half (Image: Gary Bradley) Ton though would still try to be a threat on the counter. Some good work from Owen Moffat won the ball high in the Falkirk half which triggered Michael Garrity into life. Some quick feet saw him beat Luke Graham and beat Henderson with ease, but his shot was brilliantly held by Nicky Hogarth.

But any life looked to be sucked out of the travelling party eight minutes before the interval as Ethan Ross brilliantly doubled his side's lead.

He capped off a brilliant move that saw him combine well with Oliver and Miller to leave the Ton defence at sixes and sevens. He was first to meet Miller's near post cross and brilliantly flick the ball across goal with his head and into the bottom left corner.

Ethan Ross was quick to double up (Image: Gary Bradley) Ex-Ton man Calvin Miller was on hand to supply Ross with his headerThat goal looked to blow all the stuffing out of the Greenock men who limped through to half time and a big team talk was required if they were to go and salvage something in the second half.

And he couldn't have asked for a worse start as the teams came back out for the second half as they went further ahead inside three minutes of the restart

Falkirk went for the jugular right from the start as a brilliant ball saw Dylan Tait and Gary Oliver get in behind Broadfoot and combine well to see Tait and Miller bare down on goal and coax Jack Baird into making a needless lunge to bring down his former teammate.

Brad Spencer made no mistake in sending Budinauckas the wrong way from 12-yards to really get the party started in the Falkirk Stadium.

Ethan Ross should've made it four little over five minutes after the restart as Ton failed to clear their lines as the ball dropped for the tricky winger on the 18-yard line. He looked for the top left corner but Budianuckas was on hand to palm clear for a corner.

But he'd pick the ball out of his net for a fourth time from the set piece as Gary Oliver was afforded too much time and space thanks to some poor marking to poke the ball home from 12 yards.

It would soon be five as a nightmare start to the second was ruthlessly put to the sword inside just nine second half minutes.

Ton's head loss bared its ugly head with the defence unable to get near their counterparts, who in fairness were just toying with an out of luck and wounded side.

A wicked Ross delivery was met by Calvin Miller who'd got the wrong side of Delaney and his diving header crept into the bottom left corner as the Cappielow men unravelled in quite spectacular fashion.

The fifth saw Imrie look to change it as Broadfoot and McGinn left the stage, with the former Rangers man taking umbrage with the call to be taken out of the firing line.

But Falkirk would continue to probe as they looked to puff their chest out and put on the style to inflict on Ton's misery, popping the ball about with relative ease and working a stiff jab on a fighter that should've had the towel flung in long before hand.

Imrie had previously mentioned the need for his side's discipline to remain intact. So he won't have been pleased when his main outlet up top, Filip Stuparevic, who'd been a passenger for most of the afternoon had talked himself into Dickinson's book. He was hauled off less than 60 seconds later with 15-minutes to play.

Spencer wrapped things up in style (Image: Gary Bradley)

Bairns skipper Brad Spencer would put the icing on the cake with eight minutes to play with the pick of the bunch as Budinauckas was forced to pick the ball up out of the net for the sixth time.

Some wonderful skill from Callumn Morrison saw him beat Delaney and deliver in search of Agyeman who chased the ball down to send it back out to the edge of the area where Spencer was waiting. He made no mistake in rasping the ball with a beautiful curling strike from 20-yards that fizzed into the bottom right corner and cap off an afternoon to forget in what was the heaviest defeat of Dougie Imrie's tenure to date.

How they recover from this remains to be seen after such a damaging and weak performance against a side riding on the rest of a wave. It's the heaviest defeat the Cappielow men have tasted since September 2019 and it could well be a defining moment in Imrie's time at the club.