Falkirk 3 - 1 Morton: Falkirk’s power of three

Phil Roberts celebrates after scoring the home side's third of the match. Picture: SNS

Two goals in five minutes shortly before the interval from Rory Loy, making his home debut, gave Gary Holt’s side the comfort of a two-goal advantage and Phil Roberts’ strike just two minutes into the second period sealed a miserable afternoon for early promotion hopefuls Morton,whose only consolation was a late Reece Hands strike.

“They are hungry to produce,” said Holt of Roberts and Loy. “But we want the goals shared out. Yes, the two of them have scored today but we’ve got goals in midfield as well.”

There had been little to separate the teams in the previous 39 minutes but Falkirk altered the outcome of the match with one swift counter-attack. Defender Will Vaulks launched the move by feeding Jay Fulton and the teenager’s perceptive ball into the path of Roberts was superb. When the former Arsenal youngster’s shot was saved by Derek Gaston, Loy pounced on the rebound to steer gleefully into the unguarded net.

On the stroke of half-time, former Rangers striker Loy, signed this summer after two years with Carlisle United, netted his second goal for the club. Morton made a hash of a simple defensive free-kick, with Gaston’s short pass exposing defender Michal Habai, who was robbed of possession by Loy and he coolly rolled home.

Falkirk have relied heavily on the goals of Farid El Alagui and Lyle Taylor in the past two years but they may just have found a partnership capable of giving them the goals their neat football deserves. Loy’s flick-on gave Roberts a sniff of the target moments after the re-start and, taking one touch, the 19-year-old rifled home.

“We got knocked a wee bit back on our heels by the first goal and the second knocked us for six,” said Morton  manager Allan Moore. “But, apart from ten minutes, there was nothing in it.”