Falkirk 1 - 0 St Mirren: Ryan Blair nets late winner

Ryan Blair's late goal denied St Mirren a winning farewell to the Championship, but Buddies boss Jack Ross refused to dwell on an anti-climactic end to an outstanding season.

Falkirk's Ryan Blair celebrates scoring to make it 1-0. Picture: SNS/Garry Williamson

The Paisley club has won just one of its last five games – yesterday’s defeat was their second loss to Falkirk in 11 days – yet Saints still finished 12 points clear of runners-up Livingston, and Ross is already planning ahead.

“Nothing takes away from what we’ve achieved,” he said. “The planning process for next season is already well under way after we clinched the title. This squad was built to win promotion, but now we need to prepare for new challenges.”

Bairns manager Paul Hartley is in a similar position to Ross a year ago, having avoided relegation thanks to a storming run since Christmas. .

“It was a nice way to sign off,” said Hartley. “We wanted to sign off with a win in front of our home crowd. It was a sweet strike from Ryan.

“We have to make changes to give ourselves a chance of winning promotion next season. That’s my job now.”