A young Saints U19s team was defeated 7-3 by Falkirk at the McDiarmid Park astro on Tuesday evening.
The visitors were on the hunt for the opener as early as the fourth minute but goalkeeper Callum Mustard was alert from close range to pull off an impressive stop.
Responding up the other end, Dougal McAdam soon embarked on a powerful run towards the edge of the box before having his strike deflected behind for a corner.
Jack Robertson found space in the box from the resulting delivery but he guided his volley over the crossbar from a promising position.
Falkirk nudged into the lead on 11 minutes when Liam Middleton opened his account for the evening with a tidy finish from deep inside the box.
Despite the setback, Saints rallied and were quickly level when defender Kole Murray struck the post but reacted quickest to turn in the rebound from a 14th minute corner into the penalty area.
The Perth youngsters thought they had the lead moments later but Robertson’s finish was deemed offside by the referee.
From here, Falkirk surged clear and Middleton added further strikes on 28 minutes, 30 minutes and then 38 minutes to bank a comfortable 4-1 half-time advantage.
Liam Carmichael added a fifth at the beginning of the second half before Murray retaliated for the Saints with 49 minutes played. His second of the night was a determined finish from inside the box.
Instantly, however, Falkirk extended their lead to 6-2 when Middleton was able to benefit from possession being won deep inside the Perth half. He finished calmly into the bottom corner.
Spectators were certainly not being shortchanged when it came to goalmouth action and Saints were back on the scoresheet in the 54th minute. This time trialist robbed the visitors’ backline before sweeping across the goalkeeper into the net. That was now 6-3.
It looked like it was 6-4 just shy of the hour mark when a Falkirk defender turned the ball into his own net. But the referee deemed there was an offside infringement, which certainly appeared harsh on first viewing.
Thomas Neil rounded off the scoring in the closing stages of the game.
