Tranent Juniors went into Saturday’s South Division fixture away to in-form Falkirk Juniors under new management, the club’s committee having appointed Gary Small to the post of manager at the conclusion of their interviewing process last Thursday.

Small, of course, was assistant to Johnny Harvey at Foresters Park in the latter half of the 2012/13 season, when the pair took charge on an interim basis, and had announced several weeks ago his intention to resign his position at Haddington Athletic come the end of the season – a change in his anticipated circumstances and the vacant post at Tranent allowed him to take on the fresh challenge of turning around the club’s fortunes.

Originally it was intended that caretaker boss John Curley would lead the team at the Grangemouth Stadium but the situation changed last Friday evening and Small took charge sooner than anticipated.

The new manager wasn’t spoilt for choice by any means when it came to selecting his first starting XI, with the substitutes’ bench consisting of three trialists, but there was little to lose given the minimal expectations – Falkirk have been flying recently, unbeaten in 10 going into Saturday’s game, and many junior observers must have expected a convincing home win.

The hosts started slowly, however, allowing Tranent to open the scoring just nine minutes in, Cammy Reynolds netting their first goal of the Small era when he prodded home a free-kick delivered from the left.

Falkirk spurned a couple of openings before they should’ve drawn level on 25 minutes; top scorer, Ure, though saw his shot from 10 yards well saved by Tranent keeper Alex Valenzuela. An excellent Falkirk move finally brought them back to level terms just before the interval, however, man-of-the-match McAteer rounding things off.

Although defending far more than attacking through the course of the first half, Tranent had cause to be encouraged by their showing, with the players putting in plenty of effort to try and impress their new manager.

With six minutes of the second half gone, however, Falkirk took the lead, with McAteer again the goalscorer, this time with a superb volley from the edge of the box.

The hosts dominated in an attacking sense after this, spurning a good few opportunities to extend their lead, and a sloppy moment defensively allowed Tranent to equalise with 17 minutes left – a corner to the near post was headed in by Richard Fairnie.

With eight minutes left, however, Falkirk sealed the win their play warranted when central defender Bell headed in – there were questions from Tranent defenders as to whether or not the ball had crossed the line fully but the referee was of the view that it had.

All told, Falkirk could have won considerably more convincingly had they taken just a few of their many chances. Tranent dug in resiliently and had fortune favoured them just a little more they could have earned a surprise point.

On Saturday, Tranent face a derby clash at neighbours Haddington Athletic, stung by a heavy defeat last week and potentially all the more of a threat on the grounds they’ll be looking to make amends.

Manager Small won’t be present in the visitors’ dugout at Millfield due to a prior engagement; instead, responsibility will be delegated to Craig McManus, the first recruit to his backroom staff.