The Bairns were on the offensive straight from kickoff and Fiona Gardner had a shot saved by the goalkeeper in the opening minutes. The goalie would go on to have a busy evening.

On 16 mins Rhianne Ferguson picked up the ball in midfield and sent it down the left for Eva Rule to outpace the defence and advance on the exposed keeper. Rule could probably have scored herself but she laid it off to unmarked strike partner Suzanne Wyatt who rolled the ball into the empty net.

The two had combined in an identical move four minutes earlier, but on that occasion the keeper had made the save.

On 23 minutes Lauren Simmons picked the ball up deep inside her own half and played a delightful ball over the top of the Gleniffer defence. Rule’s pace easily took her clear and she lifted the ball over the keeper to double Falkirk’s lead.

Glenifffer were playing a very high defensive line and this suited Falkirk perfectly, as we have pacy forwards and midfielders who can pick a pass. The third goal came from another long ball, this time from the trialist right back, and Wyatt was clinical in her finishing with the defence nowhere.

Wyatt should have had a hat-trick in the 28^th minute after Gardner played her in again with a delightful through ball. This time the keeper made the save, but you had the feeling that at the end of the game she would be walking off with the match ball tucked under her arm.

By this point the game was basically one-way traffic, with the few Gleniffer attacks being comfortably dealt with by the ever-dependable Laura Dickson as she marshalled her two trialist defenders and Amy Rafferty on her left. On the one occasion Gleniffer got a sight of goal, Rachel Pirie made the save look easy. Before the break the keeper would save twice more from Wyatt, once from Gardiner and get a lucky break when a goal was disallowed by what appeared to be a dubious offside decision.

At halftime coach Steven Reynolds mentioned in his team talk how important it was to take advantage of the multitude of dangerous corners that Gardner was whipping in. His words were heeded, because within a minute of the restart she’d placed a ball straight on the head of Wyatt and the striker had her hat-trick.

Two minutes later it was five. Rule whipped in a cross from the right, Bethany Adamson helped it on and Gardner followed up to lash it beyond the keeper. Adamson herself netted the sixth and final Falkirk goal after latching onto a pass from Wyatt. Gleniffer pulled one back with fifteen minutes to go but it was nothing more than a consolation, particularly as Falkirk could have added several more afterwards. Three times the keeper denied substitute Emma Meaney and the woodwork also came to her rescue, with a shot from trialist crashing off the bar.

So it finished 6-1, with Wyatt bagging the second Falkirk hat-trick of the season after Adamson netted the first a week ago. She also scored three times as a trialist in the previous games before signing as a Falkirk player on Monday. Welcome to the club Suzanne, and welcome back to all our returning players from last season and those who’ve stepped up from the development squad.

Team: – Rachel Pirie (sub Sarah-Louise Waugh), trialist, trialist, Amy Rfferty, Laura Dickson, Lauren Simmons (sub Emma Meaney), Fiona Gardner (sub Charlotte Holden), Iona Bridges (sub Bethany Adamson), Suzanne Wyatt, Eva Rule (sub Whitters), Rhianne Ferguson (sub trialist)