Was it ever really in any doubt?
The Falkirk supporters who made their way to the Falkirk Stadium in their thousands for their final William Hill Championship match of the season against Hamilton tonight did so, after a bruising and quite frankly unbelievable few weeks, in trepidation not expectation.
They should have known, despite the draw to Ayr United and defeats to Raith Rovers and Partick Thistle last month which had delayed their coronation as second tier champions, their men never do things the easy way and that everything would work out well in the end.
Their unexpected slip-ups during the run-in had opened the door for Livingston, who had come from 11 points behind with six games remaining at the end of March and drawn level with them last week, to snatch the silverware from them in dramatic fashion on the last day of the league season.
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They made heavy work of Hamilton, whose relegation had been confirmed the day before when they lost their appeal against the 15 point deduction they had been hit with for breaching several SPFL rules, in their final 90 minutes.
But an Ethan Ross double and a Calvin Miller goal gave them, finally, the win they needed to get it over the line and clinch a return to the top flight after a 15 year absence.
Falkirk fans would, given all they have endured in the past couple of decades, dearly have loved it all to have been wrapped up with the minimum of fuss weeks ago. But their late wobbles certainly made for an entertaining finale. This was a fabulous advertisement for Scottish football.
The denouement of the Scottish title race in 2005 was, with both Celtic at Fir Park and Rangers at Easter Road in with a chance of coming out on top, dubbed Helicopter Sunday. There was, with just 24 miles separating Falkirk and Livingston, no need to take to the air for this one. It was labelled Fast Car Friday by one wag instead.
SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster positioned himself in Linlithgow with the trophy and watched events unfold on television before setting off for Falkirk
Every seat in their three stands was filled and all of those who were in attendance were in fine voice long before kick-off. When the home squad returned to the dressing room after their warm-up the roar was deafening. The rendition of Amarillo as the minutes ticked down raised the roof.
The ultras in the corner of the Kevin McAllister Stand then unveiled a banner which read, ‘All Or Nothing’. Just in case Brad Spencer and his team mates were in any doubt about what was at stake. But manager John McGlynn had no need to fire his charges up before they took to the park.
"It's a huge occasion, there's no underestimating that,” he said when he spoke to BBC Scotland before hostilities commenced. "It doesn't get any bigger. Buzzing, the players will be buzzing for it, there is a huge crowd here, and they'll get right behind us.
"We are looking forward to it. At this stage, all the work is done, the team talk is done. The guys can now go out and put their best foot forward, try and control the game and kill it off if we get the opportunity to. Like any game, you want to make a good start, the first goal is always important in any game, even more so tonight.
But the Falkirk players looked nervous from the get go and fell behind in the fifth minute when they failed to clear a punt into their penalty box.
Their goalkeeper Nicky Hogarth managed to get a hand to an acrobatic Ricky Lamie attempt and keep the scoreline level. But Scott Robinson was perfectly positioned to pounce on the loose ball and netted from a couple of yards out. This was not supposed to be the script.
It has been a harrowing week for Hamilton fans and then some. But a couple of hundred of them still turned up and to cheer on John Rankin’s men, who would have stayed up if their fate had been decided purely on their sporting exploits, in their final competitive appearance of this term.
They were glad they made the journey when their skipper broke the deadlock. They revelled in ramming it right up their shellshocked counterparts next to them in the North Stand.
But Falkirk were down not out. The regrouped and nearly levelled immediately when a Calvin Miller free-kick almost found Liam Henderson in the visitors’ six yard box. Reghan Tumilty, though, nipped in and got his head to it. Slowly but surely, the hosts’ composure and fluidity improved.
Spencer claimed for a penalty after skipping past Tumilty and going to ground. Referee Steven McLean instantly dismissed his appeal and showed the midfielder a yellow card. There was absolute uproar in the stands. It was, however, the correct decision. The match official showed nerves of steel to make his call.
But McLean soon produced a ruling which met with the Bairns’ wholehearted approval. He felt that Robinson had barged Scott Arfield on the edge of the area and gave a free-kick. Ross stepped up and curled a delightful dead ball delivery beyond Dean Lyness and into the net. Cue complete and utter bedlam.
There was further jubilation before half-time when news filtered through that a Macaulay Tait own goal had given Partick Thistle the lead against the run of play against Livingston through at Almondvale.
Further hysteria was to follow. Ross hooked into the roof of the Hamilton net following a goalmouth stramash. Punters hugged each other in the aisles, grown men jumped over the advertising hoardings, stewards questioned why they had not been promised a double time payment as they desperately tried and failed to restore order.
Kyle MacDonald offered a timely reminder that it was still not over when he jinked forward and lashed a long-range effort just inches over the crossbar. But when Calvin Miller found the bottom right corner with a sweet strike with 20 minutes of regulation time remaining it was all over.
The comfortable victory clinched a second consecutive promotion for McGlynn’s men and surely made the veteran coach the favourite to pick up the Manager of the Year awards which will soon be handed out in the Scottish game. It is a truly remarkable achievement of which everyone involved can be rightly proud.
Staying up among the likes of Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Hibernian and Rangers during the 2025/26 campaign will be challenging. They will, if their legal challenge fails, have to spend the thick end of £1m replacing their artificial surface at some stage in the near future.
Still, they will go into next term with an awful lot of goodwill behind them, some excellent footballers in their squad and an exceptional manager in charge. But nobody in the 7,633-strong crowd was caring what happens next tonight. They were simply savouring a sweet moment which has been a long time coming. The pitch invasion which followed the final whistle showed what it meant to them.
