Changing Room Chat: SFA deny Taylor a fourth Falkirk treble

Published on 07/02/2013 00:00

LYLE Taylor has been denied a fourth hat-trick for Falkirk after the SFA confirmed that Stewart Murdoch had been officially credited with the second goal in their Scottish Cup win over Forfar Athletic at the weekend.

Taylor opened the scoring in Saturday’s 4-1 victory and, after also netting the final goal for Steven Pressley’s outfit, left Falkirk Stadium with the match ball after claiming he had got the final touch on Murdoch’s 68th-minute header.

With both players insisting they had scored the goal, Murdoch jokingly offered to “fight” his team-mate for the strike, insisting “you do not get skiffs”. However, Taylor, who had netted 20 times before the match, including competitive hat-tricks against Dumbarton and Airdrie United, countered by saying he would claim he had touched the ball “until the day I die”.

However,the SFA’s history books will register the goal as Murdoch’s.

Referee Kevin Clancy officially reported the goal as having been scored by the midfielder, denying Taylor, who also notched a treble in the pre-season Ramsdens Trophy meeting with Middlesbrough, a fourth hat-trick since joining the club in the summer.