Unfortunately Falkirk could not reproduce the form which saw them top the league the previous weekend,coming off second best to Hamilton at Laigh Bent in their first league defeat of their current campaign. Although there is no hiding from the fact that they were beaten by the better team on the day,and without throwing up any excuses at all,Falkirk did miss the obvious height advantage of big Craig Hamilton in the lineouts,as he was unavailable through injury as well as Kris Burney and with the retiral of the influential Matt Larsen a complete reshuffle of the pack was necessary. However Hamilton commenced the game in a very determined manner indeed and soon had Falkirk on the back foot,and it came as no surprise when they took the lead in the 9th minute when Lock-Forward Jerry McKee crashed over for an unconverted try from a ruck in the bottom left hand corner of the pitch. Seven minutes later the Bulls' lanky Stand-Off Owen McLeish converted a penalty to put the home side up by 10-0,but Falkirk countered admirably very shortly afterwards. Building up an attack from mid-field excellent handling saw the ball being swept right for the intruding Full-Back Gordon McGuire to take possession and kick ahead,before racing on to retrieve the loose ball and dot it down in the corner,with Logan Bonnar,s conversion attempt agonisingly strike the upright and bounce the wrong way. Alas a handling error by Falkirk in their 22 metre area was pounced on by Hamilton in the 22nd minute,and although the Sunnysiders managed to clear the initial threat the Bulls big Outside-Centre Craig Inglis ran the ball back at Falkirk and sent his Scrum-Half Stephen Turnbull in for a try in the corner,which McLeish duly converted from the touchline. Bonnar converted a penalty for Falkirk five minutes later but McLeish replied in kind shortly before the break to make the score at Half-Time Hamilton 18 Falkirk 8. With their ears no doubt ringing after the half time team talk Falkirk opened positively,and following a lengthy period of pressure in Hamilton's 22 metre area Flanker Stewart McCulloch crashed over from a five metre ruck for an unconverted try in the 54th minute. However the home side was having none of it as they retaliated within seven minutes when they surged into Falkirk's last quarter of the field with their Right-Winger Craig Skilling running in the try in the corner,and McLeish yet again added the tricky conversion from wide out. Nevertheless Falkirk were not finished just yet when sheer determination saw them take command when they moved the ball from a scrum on Hamilton's ten metre line,with Harry Boyd and Gregor Brodie both handling before Graham Lindsay got the touchdown near the corner flag in the 73rd minute. With the score now at 25-18 Falkirk at least were in sight of a losing bonus point but a late penalty from McLeish and an injury time try from Chris Stannage closed the door very firmly on that slim hope. Falkirk Team 1.Keith Slade 2.Tom Johnson 3.Lewis Skinner 4.Cole Ronald 5.Lawrence Miller 6.Stewart McCulloch 7.Gregor Brodie 8.Andrew Simpson 9.Harry Russell[Capt.] 10.Logan Bonnar 11.Gary Dempsey 12.Graham Gilliland 13.Benji Cottle 14.Graham Lindsay 15.Gordon McGuire. Subs.16.Graeme Simpson 17.Ross Denny 18.Harry Boyd 19.Robbie Hogg. This Week Falkirk will be looking to bounce back when they entertain Aberdeenshire at Sunnyside,Kick-Off is at 2.00 p.m