Bairns' play - Robbie nails down his spot
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FALKIRK's Inverurie-bred keeper Robbie Mutch is adamant he's not prepared to give up the number one jersey anytime soon.
The 21-year-old has put himself ahead of ex-Scotland cap Cammy Bell in the pecking order and was even named the club's Player of the Month for November.
It is a far cry from this time last year when he was shipped out on loan to Deveronvale after being frozen out by previous boss Ray McKinnon.
But since ex-teammate and club legend Lee Miller took up the manager's jacket, Mutch has been a regular in the side as they look to hoist themselves out of League One.
He said: “The start of the season was a bit frustrating, I got a few games in the Betfred Cup and a couple of league appearances when Cammy got injured.
“I took my chance well when I came in, kept a clean sheet, but as soon as he was back fit, it didn't matter how well I did, Cammy was straight back in the team.
“It was frustrating on my part.
“A couple of poor results later under McKinnon and he got the sack.
“When that happened, Cammy was injured again so Lee Miller and David McCracken, who were two players here, took charge.
“I actually played with Lee when he was last at Falkirk, now he's in charge which is good for me.
“I've kept my place, I've played eight games a row in the league and I think I've cemented myself as first choice.
He added: “I take it week-by-week.
“That's about eight games I've played in a row so I need to keep putting performances in every Saturday.
“I just got Player of the Month by the club so I'm obviously doing something right.
“I just need to keep doing my best, keeping clean sheets.
“Cammy is a really experienced goalie, so I feel I'm doing good enough for a 21-year-old to be keeping him out the team.”
Having turned out for both his parent club and briefly Dumbarton on loan in the first half of last season, Mutch appeared set for a spell in the wilderness until a timely opportunity for a temporary move back up the road.
“McKinnon was here for just over a year and I felt like he never gave me a chance”, he said.
“When he came in, I was second choice on paper behind an older goalie.
“But as soon as he came in, he left me out the squad and was picking the third choice ahead of me.
“That painted a picture and I didn't feel he had faith in me as a young goalie.
“Last season I went on loan to Dumbarton for a couple of games.
“Circumstances happened at Falkirk where the goalie who was playing got sent off so I had to come back.
“I sat on the bench for a couple of games until the suspension was over.
“By that time, I couldn't go back to Dumbarton and in the SPFL you can only play for two clubs a season – I had already played two with Falkirk under Paul Hartley and then two for Dumbarton.
“That was my season over by October, I knew myself McKinnon wasn't going to give me a chance.
“I went back up the road on loan to Deveronvale for the second half of the season just to get games – my only options were to play Highland League, Lowland League or just rot away in the reserves.
“I thought to myself that I might as well make the most of it, spend six months at home and play proper football instead of against boys, which in the long run has paid off, I'm back at Falkirk and back in the team.
He continued: “I just wanted to play.
“I didn't want to be travelling with the first team at Falkirk just to do a warm-up every Saturday.
“There's no point training all week to not get the reward of it, I didn't see the point in that.
“I just wanted to play games and I suppose it shows that I have a decent attitude.
“I've still got another year left on my contract.
“You know what it's like in modern day football when new managers come and go.
“I knew soon enough there would be a new manager in.
“I wasn't expecting it to be Lee Miller and David McCracken but you always try and look ahead when things aren't going well.”
Falkirk are the proverbial big fish in the small pond after their shock relegation to League One last season.
The promotion chase has been more difficult than they expected with the opposition never failing to raise their game against the Bairns.
But Mutch, who reportedly attracted interest from Celtic prior to joining Falkirk from Aberdeen in 2017, believes the squad has enough quality about them to get back into the Championship.
He said: “It's been the aim since the start of the season.
“Ray McKinnon had assembled a squad that wouldn't look amiss in the Championship.
“We're still up there but it's not as clear as we'd like it to be.
“A lot of people are looking in saying 'Falkirk should be cruising this league'.
“I don't think that's the case as Falkirk is a cup final for every other team, we're the team to beat.
“We've found that out away from home, the pitches are a lot smaller than our own and teams are sitting with 11 men behind the ball.
“It's so hard to break down and we've had multiple 0-0 draws already.
“I'm confident we'll still get promotion at least.
“Our aim is to win the league and I think we will, but promotion is the most important thing.”
