WHEN Falkirk midfielder Scott Arfield used this thumping win to launch a public plea for tickets to watch Oasis in concert later this year, the assembled press corps began scrabbling around for 'Roll With It' and 'Wonderwall' puns to help make the teenager's case. Instead, however, it was the youngster's on-song second-half performance that deserved the spotlight and all the superlatives going.
Arfield was, by his own admission, largely anonymous before the interval when BBC Alba must have been ruing their decision to broadcast this encounter in its entirety on Saturday evening. But the 19-year-old emerged from the shadow of Hamilton's Jame
s McCarthy to bring the house down with some perceptive, probing play and, later, even some showboating.
McCarthy had been the game's most likely match-winner early on as Falkirk struggled to cope with his roaming remit and intelligent movement. The home side were lucky that Darren Barr's tug on the youngster's jersey was deemed to have taken place just outside the area in the 26th minute, but there was nothing fortunate about the way they took the lead on the stroke of half-time.
Michael Higdon flicked a pass into the path of Graham Barrett on the right edge of the area and his cross was bundled into the net from close range by Steve Lovell for the summer signing's second goal in consecutive starts.
Accies manager Billy Reid, whose talented side sorely missed the presence of skipper Alex Neil in midfield, bemoaned the loss of a goal at the worst possible time. "They say goals change games and it was a big, big thing for us to lose that goal just before half-time after, I think, being the slightly better side in the first half."
His assessment was spot-on but thereafter he could have no complaints that the points stayed in Falkirk. Arfield darted through a cavernous hole in the centre of the Hamilton defence in the 69th minute to sweep in a second before Burton O'Brien speared a magnificent third past Tomas Cerny from 25 yards only two minutes later.
The strike was welcome reassurance for O'Brien, whose move to Falkirk has been blighted by an injury to the left leg he used in so sensational a fashion.
When substitute Gerard Aafjes was then felled by David Graham's mistimed tackle in the box four minutes from time, there was no way anyone was going to remove the ball from Arfield. His successful spot-kick prompted the Liam Gallagher celebration that doubled as an appeal for 'any spare tickets'.
His manager, John Hughes, could do worse than offer passes for the November concerts in Glasgow as motivation for the player. "I can only say he's got a great chance in the game," said Hughes. "He listens and he does everything with a smile on his face. He wants to get better and he is a very humble boy, and that's what you want to work with."
Hamilton sneaked a last-minute consolation when Olejnik palmed Trent McLenahan's cross into his own net but it was the home fans who went home singing.
The full article contains 533 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
