Falkirk celebrate title triumph with thumping win

By Sports Desk March 30, 2024

Falkirk celebrated being crowned cinch League One champions in style with a 7-1 thumping of Montrose.

Falkirk had sealed the title before they even kicked off as closest rivals Hamilton were held to a goalless draw by Queen of the South.

Hamilton needed a win to keep the pressure on the leaders but failed to take all three points at New Douglas Park, where Jamie Barjonas was shown a red card.

Falkirk then dazzled in the late kick-off, with Ross MacIver and Aidan Nesbitt both scoring twice as Ethan Ross and Alfredo Agyeman also got in on the act.

Ryan Shanley netted the seventh in the 76th minute, Kane Hester with Montrose’s sole reply.

Alloa drew 1-1 with Annan as Bobby Wales struck first for the hosts before Tommy Muir equalised in the 40th minute.

Cove Rangers enjoyed a 4-2 victory over Stirling.

Rumarn Burrell equalised after Kieran Offord’s earlier effort and two own-goals from Jordan McGregor helped Cove claim the points.

Alfie Bavidge scored a brace as Kelty Hearts sealed a 3-1 win at home to Edinburgh City.

In League Two, leaders Stenhousemuir were made to wait to secure the title after a goalless draw away at Dumbarton.

Peter Pawlett netted a hat-trick to help second-placed Peterhead pick up a 4-1 win over Clyde and keep alive their slim hopes of overhauling Stenny, whose lead at the top was cut to 13 points.

Marc McNulty’s penalty gave Spartans a 1-0 home win over Forfar in a game where Stuart Morrison was shown a red card for the visitors, while goals from Alan Trouten and James Lyon helped East Fife to a 2-0 win against Elgin.

Stranraer and Bonnyrigg Rose drew 1-1 as Deryn Lang cancelled out Neil Martyniuk’s penalty.

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    Ten Hag's side have won just three of their opening 10 matches in all competitions, while their eight points in the league cements their worst-ever start to a Premier League season.

    Only 19th-place Southampton (four) have netted fewer goals than United (five) in the competition so far, while only in 1972-73 (four) have the Red Devils ever netted fewer in their first seven matches of a top-flight campaign.

    Against a Villa side who beat Bayern Munich in their last outing before this meeting, a draw could be seen as a good result, but Neville believes that shows the "low bar" the team is currently working with.

    "It's a small step forward," Neville told Sky Sports. "Before the game, if you offered any Man Utd fan, player or coach a draw, then they would have snapped your hand off.

    "That's where, at the end of the game, when you see Erik ten Hag's interview, there's an element of relief because it keeps the wolves at bay for a couple of weeks at least. It gives them a little bit more time.

    "I don't think anybody who thought a major incident would happen after the game thought it would happen with a draw. They always thought it would need to be a difficult day or difficult defeat like it was last week against Tottenham. I think it buys Ten Hag a little bit of time.

    "It's Manchester United's worst start in Premier League history so we can't celebrate. When we're thinking it's a decent point when you draw at Villa, it tells you how far Villa have come - but it also tells you how low the bar is for United in this moment in time."

    Ten Hag, who signed a new contract in the off-season, continues to insist that he has the backing of the club's hierarchy despite the less-than-stellar start to the campaign.

    However, the pressure is starting to pile on the manager once more, with United failing to score in each of their last three Premier League games, equalling their worst run without a goal in the competition under the Dutchman (also a run of three in both December 2023 and April 2023).

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    "They have just got to hope [something happens] in this next couple of weeks - through maybe a reset, some thinking time, some planning.

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    Data Debrief: Quick off the mark

    To salvage a point against Real Madrid last weekend, Atletico left it late, not scoring until the 95th minute to claim a point.

    This time out, however, Alvarez scored the club's fifth-fastest goal in LaLiga in the 21st century (51 seconds), and the fastest since February 2018 when Griezmann netted in 38 seconds against Malaga. 

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