Falkirk v Queen of the South: Error free defences to be top priority

After Falkirk boss Peter Houston described his side’s 7-0 defeat at the hands of Ross County on Tuesday as “embarrassing”, you would expect the Bairns’ next opponents to be braced for a backlash.

Queen of the South are the side to have that theory tested out on on Friday night, as the Doonhammers look to kick on with their season themselves.

The hosts’ midweek mauling in the League Cup saw them face the wrath of their 57-year-old manager.

“Seven crosses came into our box and they scored seven goals. Our fans deserved to give them every bit of stick going, it wasn’t good enough”, he told the Falkirk Herald.

In the league the Stirlingshire outfit have actually looked pretty solid and lead the charge behind Championship leaders Rangers, yet to taste defeat.

They are priced up at 10/11 to get back to winning ways in front of the BBC Alba television cameras, and while the man in charge will be expecting a performance, he may well be focusing his attention on any further defensive misdemeanours.

It’s a similar story for Queens, who themselves found two defensive errors costing them all three points against Greenock Morton last week.

They would however have been delighted to halt a losing run that had stretched to four games in all competitions.

James Fowler will undoubtedly want to see his side iron out the creases at the back and bid to halt a Falkirk attack that has netted 14 goals in five home games this season in all competitions.

The Dumfries outfit haven’t been particularly potent at the other end either, scoring just three times in their last five.

They probably wish they still had the services of Gavin Reilly coming into this fixture with the now-Hearts man netting seven goals in 11 games against the Bairns.

Instead responsibility will be handed to Derek Lyle and Gary Oliver up top who are priced at 13/2 and 7/1 to open the scoring.

The former has three strikes to his name this season, but it might be wise not to expect a goal-fest in this one.

Just one of the last five meetings between the sides had three or more goals, while just three of Queen of the South’s Championship fixtures have obliged for overs backers.

Defensive problems may have hindered both teams in their previous matches, but that could inspire a shrewd punt on their being under 2.5 goals in the match at 20/21.

Neither Fowler nor Houston will be wanting a repeat of the sloppy goals they conceded in their last run-out and it could be a case that this one sees a defensive first approach take shape from both ends of the pitch.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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