New Falkirk manager Steven Pressley will be under pressure from the start as he is running out of games to maintain the club's SPL status. Pressley was elevated  from his coaching role following the departure of Eddie May on Thursday. He was all ears as chairman Martin Ritchie stressed that relegation would be "disastrous" for the club. Pressley goes into his first game in charge against old club Hearts with Falkirk three points adrift at the bottom of the league but he promised to keep them in the top flight.

Pressley said: "I take the job with the belief I will keep them in the SPL. If I don't do that I will have failed. That's football, that's life. You are always judged, you are judged by results. It is a great degree of responsibility but I'm happy living with that. I believe in the players, I really do. I train with them every day, I have watched them closely, I see their character. They are a smashing group of players and I believe they are far greater than their league position suggests. I need to get inside the players' heads, need to make sure they know the demands of playing at this football club and start creating a winning mentality. We managed to do that at Hearts, it took a bit of time, but that's what I want to achieve here."

Alex Smith remains as assistant with Lee Bullen also being elevated from youth coach to working with his fellow first-team players. Smith has tipped Pressley to be an instant success. He said: "I have had experience of this before with Dundee United. At this stage of the season we were seven points behind St Mirren and finished five points above them. I know what it needs to escape. The fans behaved like they had just won the cup - you can be a hero by keeping a club in the league."