Celtic stunned by Falkirk as inspired Scott Bain frustrates former club
Ethan Ross and Scott Tanser were on target.
Celtic paid the price for a sloppy start and a superb display from former goalkeeper Scott Bain as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Falkirk.
Ethan Ross netted in the third minute after a mistake by Cameron Carter-Vickers and Scott Tanser put Falkirk two ahead in the 38th minute.
Bain made 10 saves as Martin O’Neill’s side endured an afternoon of frustration and suffered a sixth defeat in 10 matches.
The champions remain four points clear at the top of the William Hill Premiership but have now played a game more than second-placed Rangers.
Falkirk moved up to fourth in the table after their fourth consecutive victory and their first over Celtic since 2007.
Carter-Vickers returned to the starting line-up after injury, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was handed his first start in two months. Winger Haissem Hassan was recalled.
Kasper Hogh might have fancied himself to end his barren run on Falkirk’s synthetic pitch given most of his career goals have come on artificial surfaces, but the former Bodo/Glimt striker was dropped as Camilo Duran led the line.
The Danish striker came on for the final 25 minutes but was barely involved as he went 14 games without a goal.
Falkirk got an early lift after the Celtic central defence failed to deal with a long ball.
The hosts worked the ball out to Ryan Strain, whose cross was knocked into the path of Ross by Carter-Vickers. The wide player lapped up the chance.
The goal came at a cost as Strain injured himself while crossing. Jack McMillan was a natural replacement at right-back.
Both sides made opportunities in the first half.
On-loan Derby winger Owen Eames was a hive of creativity on Falkirk’s left wing and helped set up two half chances for Jacob Murrell, who could not make the most of them.
The 19-year-old wide player set up the second goal as left-back Tanser ran on to his infield pass before slotting past Sam Johnstone.
Duran hit a post after getting in behind and Celtic were kept out by a string of excellent first-half stops from Bain, who denied the Colombian three times and also foiled Hassan with a diving save.
Falkirk were almost out of sight early in the second half when Murrell bundled the ball over the line after Celtic failed to deal with a long throw, but the ball had hit the American’s hand when it bounced off a post before going in off the striker’s waist and the goal was disallowed by VAR.
O’Neill had brought on James Forrest for Callum Osmand at half-time and the winger forced Bain’s first save of the half before Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney and Hassan missed the target from inside the box.
O’Neill turned to Hogh and Benjamin Nygren as Duran and Oxlade-Chamberlain made way.
But Bain quickly pulled off a brilliant double save from Forrest and Nygren to spark chants of ‘Scotland’s number one’.
The former Celtic goalkeeper soon denied Forrest again before Nygren was thwarted by a diving block from Finn Yeats.
It grew increasingly clear that Celtic were never going to score as Liam Scales headed over and Bain saved long-range efforts from Nygren and Mika Baur.