It is a dog-fight down at the bottom of the SPL with Falkirk desperate to get off the bottom spot.

Falkirk manager John Hughes still believes his side can avoid the drop to replace St Johnstone in the First Division. His side have been playing under the threat of relegation for a number of weeks and he thinks they have coped well and he backs them to stay in the SPL. The Bairns go into Saturday's game with Kilmarnock hoping to close the three-point gap to their opponents and St Mirren. Hughes will take any kind of scrappy win as he knows three points from the game at Rugby Park will lift them off the foot of the table. If the Bairns manage to get the win they will be in an unusual position as they have struggled all season to get themselves away from the relegation zone due to a series of below-par performances. However, after receiving a huge lift from reaching the Homecoming Scottish Cup final against Rangers on May 30 with a win over bitter rivals Dunfermline and a further boost from last weekend's hard-fought 2-1 victory over Motherwell, Hughes is convinced they are dealing with their predicament in the best way possible.

He said: "I think for the last couple of months we've been playing with that tension in our game and the players have learned how to deal with it. Because of the position that we're in they've had to deal with it and dig it out. We've got a right shot in the arm from getting to the Scottish Cup final and it's a great motivation tool. I can see the training is lively. We knew the importance of the last two games but we had to win the football matches. We did that and it opens it up a wee bit. It flings the cat right in among the pigeons and all we need to do is concentrate on ourselves, keep a real focus on what we're doing, and try and keep winning football matches."

Home

Away

Team

P

W

D

L

F

A

W

D

L

F

A

GD

PTS

1

Celtic

34

13

3

1

46

12

10

5

2

32

19

47

77

2

Rangers

34

13

2

2

41

14

10

5

2

29

12

44

76

3

Hearts

35

10

5

3

25

18

5

4

8

12

19

0

54

4

Dundee Utd

35

7

8

3

25

21

6

6

5

21

21

4

53

5

Aberdeen

35

8

4

5

20

16

5

6

7

18

21

1

49

6

Hibernian

35

6

5

6

22

22

5

7

6

18

21

-3

45

7

Motherwell

34

7

5

5

21

23

4

3

10

16

23

-9

41

8

Hamilton

34

7

2

8

18

16

4

2

11

10

32

-20

37

9

Inverness CT

34

4

4

9

17

25

6

1

10

17

28

-19

35

10

Kilmarnock

34

5

2

9

14

20

4

5

9

18

25

-13

34

11

St Mirren

34

3

8

6

13

17

5

2

10

16

29

-17

34

12

Falkirk

34

6

4

8

19

18

1

6

9

15

31

-15

31


It was just last month that the two sides met and Falkirk failed to take the opportunity to get themselves off bottom spot. Former Scotland striker Kevin Kyle's hat-trick dashed their hopes that day and Hughes blamed poor defending but also confessed he had sent his team out to play in too attacking a manner. This time, however, Hughes reckons his team have prepared in a fashion that he believes could reap their rewards as they seek a morale-boosting win. He added: "We're going to have to be a lot better than we were the last time we were down at Kilmarnock. Although I felt we played quite well, the game just didn't go the way we wanted it to go. We played the wrong way, in terms of being too expansive. But I felt we lost some poor goals as well. We're just going to have to tighten up, make sure we're solid and make sure our shape's better. We've trained in a manner that I expect them to go out and play. If we can go and do that I think we could go and get something."

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