Falkirk may let Hughes go
Falkirk will consider allowing John Hughes to talk to Swansea should they ask permission to sound him out about succeeding Roberto Martinez as manager.
Hughes has expressed an interest in returning to his former club once Martinez completes his move to Wigan on Wednesday.
Falkirk managing director George Craig told BBC Sport Wales: "If an opportunity was to come along for John, I would certainly not hold that against him to at least consider it. We would be very understanding and would hope that - between ourselves and John and whatever club that came in for him - we would be able to come to some amicable settlement."
He added: "There's no approaches been made - at the moment, it's all speculation. John has been making it known that maybe he's reaching that stage in his managerial career where it's time to see if he can face another challenge.
"He's been particularly specific to say that if an opportunity arose down south, he would be interested."
Former Swansea striker Hughes took his first steps into management with Falkirk in January 2003, initially in a joint role with now-Burnley manager Owen Coyle.
He twice won the First Division, with Falkirk gaining entry to the Scottish Premier League at the second time of asking in 2005 after building a new stadium.
The Bairns thrived in the SPL until this season, when they completed a remarkable escape from relegation on the final day of the campaign.
But they reached the Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final and the Homecoming Scottish Cup final, qualifying for Europe for the first time in their history.
Copyright (c) 2009 The Press Association
Inverness relegated
Michael Higdon scored a second-half goal as Falkirk beat 10-man Inverness 1-0 to relegate them from the SPL and complete their great escape after starting the final day of the season in bottom place.
Substitute Higdon turned home Jackie McNamara's inviting cross after 68 minutes to ensure the Bairns remained in the top flight.
The turning point of the match came after 39 minutes when Ross Tokely was sent off for a last-man challenge on Steve Lovell.
With so much at stake it was, as expected, a nervy and tentative start from both sides. The home side made the first foray forward when Foran latched onto a Filipe Morais flick-on before darting past Gerard Aafjes and unleashing a low drive that was comfortably gathered by Mallo in the Falkirk goal.
Richie Foran should have given Inverness the lead iafter 12 minutes but was denied by an excellent stop by Dani Mallo. The talking point of the half came after 39 minutes when the home side were reduced to 10 men when Tokely was sent off for a last man challenge on Lovell.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Inverness made the better start to the second half and Bairns striker Finnigan breathed a sigh of relief when his defensive header from an Ian Black free-kick went over his own crossbar.
Falkirk manager John Hughes made his first change after 53 minutes withdrawing Arnau Riera and bringing on Mark Stewart. And the substitute almost made an immediate impact when he lobbed Michael Fraser with a first-time volley but the retreating Duncan headed the ball off the line to safety.
Inverness were sitting deeper and deeper in their own half and Higdon was introduced for Lovell after 65 minutes in attempt to prise open the stubborn home defence.
And this change did make the difference. Jackie McNamara exploded down the right and played a pin-point cross into the path of Higdon and the substitute prodded the ball past the helpless Fraser to the delight of the vocal travelling support.
In the dying stages Kerr shot over before substitute Russell Duncan was denied by Mallo but the Highlanders could not find the goal to secure their top-flight status.
Copyright (c) 2009 Yahoo! and Eurosport
Scotland given extra Europa place
UEFA published their full table, which puts Scotland in third place behind Norway and Denmark, with all three countries earning an extra spot in Europe.
In a statement released to PA Sport, Smith (pictured) said; "It is great news, a tremendous reflection on the game in Scotland."
Motherwell lead St Mirren and Hibernian in the SFA's own fair play table and the top team at the end of the season will take part in the first qualifying round of the new Europa League on July 2, with the second leg a week later.
The SFA take into account a range of criteria, including yellow and red cards, crowd behaviour, the actions of club officials and match reports by SPL delegates.
Smith added: "Winning the extra place in Europe shows what fair play can achieve and sends out a strong message to thousands of boys and girls who play football in Scotland. We now have six teams representing Scotland in Europe next season, more than ever before.
"While the recognition is good, it is vitally important that the teams taking part get the right results so we can continue to improve our national co-efficient.
"We won`t be able to announce who is getting the place until the end of the season. However, we will keep in touch with all the clubs who are in the running so they can at least put provisional plans in place. One thing is for sure, for one Scottish club it is going to be a very short close season."
Falkirk have already qualified for the Europa League after reaching the Homecoming Scottish Cup final, while Hearts, Dundee United and Aberdeen are battling for the two spots available through the Scottish Premier League.
Celtic and Rangers will take part in the Champions League, with the SPL champions going straight into the group stages.
Copyright (c) 2009 Yahoo! and Eurosport
Falkirk reaches Scottish Cup final with 2-0 win over Dunfermline
GLASGOW, Scotland -- Falkirk reached the Scottish Cup final for the first time in 12 years Sunday with a 2-0 win over Dunfermline.
The Bairns are bottom of the Scottish Premier League and almost certain to be relegated but beat its second-tier opponent through two second-half goals.
Locally born defender Thomas Scobbie headed his first goal of the season in the 54th minute and Scott Arfield struck an 89th-minute penalty to put their side into the May 30 final against Rangers.
Falkirk won the last of its two Scottish Cup titles in 1957, reaching just one final since.
Rangers is second in the Scottish Premier League and already certain to qualify for European competition next season.
That leaves Falkirk set to play European football for the first time by taking the place in the Europa League - which replaces the UEFA Cup from next season - usually awarded to the Scottish Cup winners. The place goes to the runners-up if the Cup winner, like Rangers, is already sure of European football the following season.
Copyright (c) 2009 The Canadian Press
Celtic request split explanation
Rangers play Hearts for a third time at Ibrox in addition to making their third trip of the campaign to face Hibs.
Hearts and Hibs' fixtures need to be balanced to ensure they both play 19 games at home and away.
However, Celtic are frustrated by the move, as Rangers will avoid a visit to play Hearts at Tynecastle, where they lost in November.
The fixture anomaly could have been averted by scheduling Hearts to play play at Easter Road for the third time this season, but the SPL were keen to avoid switching the Edinburgh derby.
Hearts have drawn against both sides of the Old Firm in recent weeks while Rangers won at Hibernian for the second time this season on Sunday.
A Celtic spokesperson said: "Clearly we are quite surprised at the scheduling of matches and we have written to the SPL to get an understanding of their rationale.
"However, as they always have, (manager) Gordon Strachan and the players will get on with it."
The SPL issued a document explaining the rationale behind the scheduling of the post-split fixtures, saying the only way the issue could be avoided is if the same six teams had ended up in the top six as last season.
Celtic will host Hearts on the final day of the season, 24 May, while Rangers will travel to Tannadice to face Dundee United.
Meanwhile, Rangers manager Walter Smith admits his side are bracing themselves for a tough title run-in after their a narrow victory over Hibernian.
Hibs secured a top-six slot courtesy of Motherwell's defeat to St Mirren and forced Rangers to grind out another hard-fought win.
Smith believes life is going to get even tougher in the final five games of the campaign as Rangers try to supplant Celtic at the top of the table.
"I think Sunday's game showed the difficulty we have," he said.
"There will be some really tough games between now and the end of the season.
"Hibs are the team who have qualified in sixth place and that was a really competitive game."
In the bottom six, Hamilton will travel to Inverness for a third time while bottom club Falkirk face a third trip to Kilmarnock. All four clubs are currently embroiled in a relegation battle, along with St Mirren.
BBC (c) MMIX
Rangers trims Celtic's lead to one point in Scottish league
GLASGOW, Scotland -- Rangers closed the gap on Celtic to one point by beating Motherwell 3-1 as the Scottish leaders were held 1-1 by Hearts on Saturday.
Andrius Velicka and Kris Boyd put Rangers 2-0 up inside 10 minutes and, after John Sutton pulled one back for Motherwell, Boyd brought his tally for the season to 28 goals.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink put Celtic ahead inside 30 seconds. The Dutch striker volleyed home his third goal in eight days after Aiden McGeady's cross had been half-cleared and Andreas Hinkel returned the ball into the Hearts penalty area.
Hearts goalkeeper Janos Balogh got both hands to Vennegoor of Hesselink's strike but could not keep it out.
Celtic was looking comfortable but Bruno Aguiar hit a spectacular equalizer the 32nd minute, curling a free kick over the wall and into the corner of Artur Boruc's net.
Aberdeen moved closer to third-place Hearts with a 1-0 victory over Inverness, Dundee United won 1-0 at Hamilton and Kilmarnock crushed Falkirk 3-0 to claim its first Scottish Premier League win in 2009.
Copyright (c) 2009 The Canadian Press.
Howard agrees new Saints deal
St Mirren goalkeeper Mark Howard has agreed a new two-year contract with the SPL strugglers.
The 22-year-old will sign a deal that will tie him to St Mirren Park until the summer of 2011.
St Mirren boss Gus MacPherson, whose side sit 11th in the SPL, will welcome the news after shot-stopper Chris Smith underwent surgery to repair a damaged cruciate ligament last week.
Howard has been first-choice goalkeeper for the majority of this season after initially struggling to displace Smith following a 2007 summer move from Cardiff.
(c) 2009 BSkyB
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