In response to Sundays Match Report, here is an official statement from Sparta Manager Charlie Kirkwood.

I am writing this statement in response to complaints made by a number of players within the squad about Sundays match report. Firstly - "the late arrival of kit man Stuart Deans". Stuart deens is not a kit man to Sparta jag. In fact Stuart is the longest serving player in the Sparta jag squad. Stuart was late due to personal reasons and would have been in the starting line up if it was not for him being sick before the match.2- "a waste of a ball from Andy Mac" - I feel that Andy Mac along with Stephen Mac were outstanding at times in the game and the way Andy was working with and without the ball all through the game was 2nd to none. Some of his passing was pin point and put the Falkirk team under enormous pressure throughout the game. This was one of the most committed and disciplined performances I have seen from Andy in a Sparta jag shirt! 3- "Sparta were in free fall" - at no point did I feel that at any time in the game we were in free fall. Infact I feel that we were the predominant force throughout the game. 4- "Kirkwood, who recently returned as Manager after shying from commitment" I feel that I have never been at any point with playing or managing Sparta jag been shying away from commitment. On Sunday I did not even get stripped because of large numbers and I wanted as many other players to play as possible. As Colin and macos will confirm, all three of us put alot of effort in behind the scenes to make everything run as smoothly as possible. We are by far the three most committed players within the team and we will continue to be committed long term for the good of the team. 5 -"Kirkwood ,panicked! He threw on three subs in five minutes"- at no point did I panic in any way. If people were listening at the team talk before the game, I stated that I would make all three subs regardless of the score line as we had a large squad and I wanted as many people as possible who made the long trip to Falkirk to play a part of the game. I made all three subs, one to add height to the attack 2 to add pace to the wings and 3 also to add pace to the right and to tighten up a defence that was starting to look slack. 6 - "Falkirk fan..... I mean referee" I felt and I told the ref at the end of the game that I felt he gave the best performance I’ve seen this season by any ref in the league. I feel he was fair to both teams and let the game flow when he could. He was very good. 7 - "Burnsy who clearly fatigued hit the ball with all his might and it trundled over the line" - I feel that Stephen had a really good game and he took his goal calmly and clinically. The ball fell to him, his first touch killed the ball and then he calmly fired the ball into the bottom right hand corner under pressure from defenders on the line. A very good finish. I hope this clears things up for everyone and I hope that the reporting of the games in the future will be more accurate and fair to all involved. I would just like to say a very well done to everyone involved on Sunday as it may not have been the result we deserved but was a great performance by all! Well done. Cheers Charlie Kirkwood.