# 2008–09 Falkirk F.C. season

The 2008–09 season was Falkirk's fourth consecutive season in the Scottish Premier League. Falkirk also competed in the League Cup and the Scottish Cup.

## Summary

In their fourth season in the SPL, Falkirk finished in tenth place. The club reached the semi-final of the League Cup, and ended as runners in the Scottish Cup, losing to Rangers in both matches.

## Results

Win  Draw  Loss

### Pre-season

| Date | Venue | Opponents | Score | Falkirk scorer(s) | Match Report |
| 22 July 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Ross County | 2–2 | Higdon, Finnigan | Falkirk Official Site |
| 23 July 2008 | Shielfield Park | Berwick Rangers | 1–2 | J.Stewart | Falkirk Official Site |
| 26 July 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Queens Park Rangers | 2–0 | Own goal, J.Stewart | Falkirk Official Site |
| 28 July 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Alloa Athletic | 0–0 | | Falkirk Official Site |
| 30 July 2008 | Cambuur Stadion | SC Cambuur | 0–1 | | Falkirk Official Site |
| 1 August 2008 | De Langeleegte | BV Veendam | 2–0 | Finnigan, J.Stewart | Falkirk Official Site |
| 2 August 2008 | Abe Lenstra Stadion | SC Heerenveen | 0–4 | | Falkirk Official Site |

### Scottish Premier League

| Date | Venue | Opponents | Score | Attendance | Falkirk scorer(s) | Match Report |
| 9 August 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Rangers | 0–1 | 6,669 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 16 August 2008 | Easter Road | Hibernian | 2–3 | 12,445 | Higdon 30', 53' | BBC Sport Report |
| 23 August 2008 | Celtic Park | Celtic | 0–3 | 56,031 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 30 August 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Inverness CT | 1–2 | 4,730 | M.Stewart 60' | BBC Sport Report |
| 13 September 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Heart of Midlothian | 2–1 | 5,960 | McCann 3', Arfield 90' | BBC Sport Report |
| 20 September 2008 | Love Street | St Mirren | 1–1 | 4,134 | Barrett 47' | BBC Sport Report |
| 27 September 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Hamilton Academical | 4–1 | 4,734 | Lovell 44', Arfield 69', 87 pen., O'Brien 79' | BBC Sport Report |
| 5 October 2008 | Fir Park | Motherwell | 2–3 | 4,509 | Lovell 22', Barrett 48' | BBC Sport Report |
| 18 October 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Aberdeen | 0–1 | 5,662 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 25 October 2008 | Rugby Park | Kilmarnock | 2–1 | 4,267 | Lovell 28', Arfield 66' pen. | BBC Sport Report |
| 1 November 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Dundee United | 0–0 | 5,608 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 8 November 2008 | New Douglas Park | Hamilton Academical | 1–1 | 2,600 | Higdon 49' | BBC Sport Report |
| 12 November 2008 | Caledonian Stadium | Inverness CT | 1–1 | 3,111 | Higdon 19' | BBC Sport Report |
| 15 November 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Motherwell | 1–0 | 5,279 | Higdon 37' | BBC Sport Report |
| 22 November 2008 | Tynecastle Stadium | Heart of Midlothian | 1–2 | 13,009 | Lovell 16' | BBC Sport Report |
| 29 November 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Hibernian | 1–1 | 6,260 | Barr 69' | BBC Sport Report |
| 6 December 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | St Mirren | 1–2 | 4,828 | Lovell 62' | BBC Sport Report |
| 13 December 2008 | Pittodrie Stadium | Aberdeen | 1–2 | 8,909 | Lovell 89' | BBC Sport Report |
| 21 December 2008 | Falkirk Stadium | Celtic | 0–3 | 6,543 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 27 December 2008 | Tannadice Park | Dundee United | 0–1 | 7,972 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 3 January 2009 | Falkirk Stadium | Kilmarnock | 1–1 | 5,375 | Lovell 41' | BBC Sport Report |
| 17 January 2009 | Ibrox Stadium | Rangers | 1–3 | 48,811 | Lovell 12' | BBC Sport Report |
| 24 January 2009 | Fir Park | Motherwell | 1–1 | 5,018 | Holden 53' | BBC Sport Report |
| 31 January 2009 | Falkirk Stadium | Aberdeen | 1–0 | 5,605 | Higdon 55' | BBC Sport Report |
| 14 February 2009 | St Mirren Park | St Mirren | 2–2 | 5,504 | Finnigan 35', Arfield 85' pen. | BBC Sport Report |
| 21 February 2009 | Falkirk Stadium | Hamilton Academical | 1–2 | 5,307 | Swailes 6' o.g. | BBC Sport Report |
| 28 February 2009 | Easter Road | Hibernian | 0–0 | 10,682 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 3 March 2009 | Falkirk Stadium | Dundee United | 0–1 | 4,385 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 21 March 2009 | Falkirk Stadium | Inverness CT | 4–0 | 5,523 | Finnigan 37', 90' M.Stewart 65', Arfield 82' pen. | BBC Sport Report |
| 5 April 2009 | Falkirk Stadium | Rangers | 0–1 | 6,853 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 8 April 2009 | Celtic Park | Celtic | 0–4 | 57,669 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 11 April 2009 | Rugby Park | Kilmarnock | 0–3 | 5,835 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 18 April 2009 | Falkirk Stadium | Heart of Midlothian | 0–0 | 6,156 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 2 May 2009 | Falkirk Stadium | Motherwell | 2–1 | 4,937 | Finnigan 9', Scobbie 56' | BBC Sport Report |
| 9 May 2009 | Rugby Park | Kilmarnock | 1–1 | 5,955 | Barr 56' | BBC Sport Report |
| 13 May 2009 | New Douglas Park | Hamilton Academical | 1–0 | 3,710 | Arfield 60' | BBC Sport Report |
| 16 May 2009 | Falkirk Stadium | St Mirren | 0–2 | 6,744 | | BBC Sport Report |
| 23 May 2009 | Caledonian Stadium | Inverness CT | 1–0 | 6,489 | Higdon 68' | BBC Sport Report |

### Scottish League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers | Match Report |
| Second round | 26 August 2008 | Raith Rovers | Stark's Park | 3–1 | 2,090 | Higdon 16', J.Stewart 35 pen., M.Stewart 84' | BBC Sport Report |
| Third round | 23 September 2008 | Queen of the South | Falkirk Stadium | 2–1 | 2,058 | McCann 29', Lovell 73' | BBC Sport Report |
| Quarter-final | 28 October 2008 | Inverness CT | Falkirk Stadium | 1–0 | 3,007 | McCann 36' | BBC Sport Report |
| Semi-final | 27 January 2009 | Rangers | Hampden Park | 0–3 | 24,507 | | BBC Sport Report |

### Scottish Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers | Match Report |
| Fourth Round | 10 January 2009 | Queen of the South | Falkirk Stadium | 4–2 | 3,423 | Arfield 37' pen., 48' Barrett 68', 81' | BBC Sport Report |
| Fifth Round | 7 February 2009 | Heart of Midlothian | Tynecastle Stadium | 1–0 | 14,569 | Lovell 59' | BBC Sport Report |
| Quarter-final | 7 March 2009 | Inverness CT | Caledonian Stadium | 1–0 | 3,024 | Finnigan 31' pen. | BBC Sport Report |
| Semi-final | 26 April 2009 | Dunfermline Athletic | Hampden Park | 2–0 | 17,124 | Scobbie 54', Arfield 89' pen. | BBC Sport Report |
| Final | 30 May 2009 | Rangers | Hampden Park | 0–1 | 50,956 | | BBC Sport Report |

## Squad statistics
### Player statistics

    As of 30 May 2009(UTC)
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Premier League | Premier League | League Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Dani Mallo | 20 | 0 | 15+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | SCO | Lee Bullen | 37 | 0 | 29+3 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | NIR | Dean Holden | 22 | 1 | 16+3 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | IRL | Patrick Cregg | 31 | 0 | 16+7 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | SCO | Jackie McNamara | 37 | 0 | 29+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | SCO | Kevin McBride | 35 | 0 | 25+3 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | SCO | Neil McCann | 31 | 3 | 22+2 | 1 | 3+0 | 2 | 4+0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Arnau Riera | 20 | 0 | 14+3 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 10 | DF | SCO | Steven Pressley | 19 | 0 | 15+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | ENG | Michael Higdon | 42 | 8 | 27+7 | 7 | 3+1 | 1 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | IRL | Stephen Bradley | 4 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | NED | Gerard Aafjes | 23 | 0 | 10+7 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | ENG | Steve Lovell | 33 | 10 | 25+3 | 8 | 2+0 | 1 | 3+0 | 1 |
| 16 | MF | CAN | Scott Arfield | 45 | 10 | 35+2 | 7 | 4+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 3 |
| 17 | GK | AUT | Bobby Olejnik | 18 | 0 | 15+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | SCO | Brian Allison | 0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | SCO | Sean Lynch | 0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | SCO | Darren Barr | 44 | 2 | 35+0 | 2 | 4+0 | 0 | 5+0 | 0 |
| 21 | FW | ENG | Carl Finnigan | 19 | 5 | 10+4 | 4 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+3 | 1 |
| 22 | DF | SCO | Chris Mitchell | 10 | 0 | 3+6 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | SCO | Kevin Moffat | 4 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 24 | FW | SCO | Mark Stewart | 27 | 3 | 5+15 | 2 | 1+2 | 1 | 1+3 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | SCO | Sean Lynch | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | SCO | Jamie Barclay | 0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | NIR | Dermot McCaffrey | 2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | SCO | Tam Scobbie | 27 | 2 | 18+2 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 4+0 | 1 |
| 34 | FW | SCO | Dayne Robertson | 4 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 35 | DF | SCO | Mark Staunton | 0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 47 | MF | SCO | Burton O'Brien | 39 | 1 | 30+2 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 |
| 56 | DF | SWE | Erik Schultz-Eklund | 0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| Players who left the club during the 2008–09 season ||||||||||||
| 9 | FW | IRL | Graham Barrett | 19 | 4 | 9+6 | 2 | 2+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 2 |
| 10 | MF | TRI | Russell Latapy | 4 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | ENG | Scott Flinders | 9 | 0 | 8+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | SCO | John Stewart | 5 | 1 | 4+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 8 | Kilmarnock | 38 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 38 | 48 | −10 | 44 | |
| 9 | Hamilton Academical | 38 | 12 | 5 | 21 | 30 | 53 | −23 | 41 | |
| 10 | Falkirk | 38 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 37 | 52 | −15 | 38 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 11 | St Mirren | 38 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 33 | 52 | −19 | 37 | |
| 12 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle (R) | 38 | 10 | 7 | 21 | 37 | 58 | −21 | 37 | Relegation to the First Division |
* ↑ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
* ↑ Since Rangers, the winners of the Scottish Cup, already qualified for the Champions League via their league position, Falkirk, the losing finalist, earned a spot in the Europa League.