Brechin City winger Bobby Barr believes the performance against Falkirk will boost their promotion charge, despite suffering an agonising Scottish Cup exit.
Barr was arguably Brechin’s stand-out player as Ray McKinnon’s men matched the Bairns throughout the hard-fought contest.
Former Dundee United and St Johnstone defender David McCracken gave Falkirk the lead in the opening exchanges, but City restored parity after the break through an Alan Trouten penalty.
Until the last 15 minutes, in which Barr acknowledges Brechin tired against their full-time foes, the visitors looked the more likely winners.
However, David Smith popped up with 10 minutes left to bundle home the winner from close range.
It ends Brechin’s 14-match unbeaten run,
However, Barr said: “A performance like that against a side like Falkirk has to give you belief. We’ve matched a quality Championship side all the way.”
He added: “If we can take that level of performance in to the rest of the season then we won’t be too far away.
“We want to stay in the play-off positions, and hopefully look up towards top spot.
“The undefeated run of 14 was really good, and most people would agree we were unlucky to lose it against Falkirk, but we need to take this performance into the league.
“We are still 10 undefeated in the league that is the way we are going to look at it.
“We are still feeling really positive, and it’s about bouncing back in the right way now.”
It took Falkirk just 11 minutes to break the deadlock through McCracken as the experienced stopper converted a wonderfully worked corner kick.
Blair Alston delivered a deep cross to Luke Leahy on the edge of the box, and he headed the ball back into the area, where McCracken was well placed to nod home.
Brechin levelled with a penalty on 55 minutes after Peter Grant felled Gerry McLaughlan in the box, with Trouten stepping up to dispatch the kick with aplomb.
There was a sting in the tail, however, as Rory Loy danced into the box and unleashed a low shot. That effort was parried by Graeme Smith, but David Smith was on hand to bundle home the rebound.
McCracken said: “Brechin were going to come and make it hard for us and, credit to them, that is exactly what happened.
“We were not at our best but at the end of the day we are in Monday’s draw, and that’s it.”