Queen of the South 0-1 Falkirk: 'Freak' goal delights Peter Houston

Falkirk's Craig Sibbald celebrates at full-time after his goal put his side into the semi-finals

Both managers admitted the weather gave Falkirk a helping hand as they crept past Queen of the South to make the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

Craig Sibbald headed Falkirk into a first-half lead with the wind helping the ball evade the Queens backline.

The blustery conditions restricted chances and Sibbald's goal was enough to send the Bairns to Hampden.

"It's a goal that probably wouldn't have happened, but we can't help the weather conditions," Falkirk manager Peter Houston told BBC Scotland.

"It's unfortunate because I think it's two teams who could have served up a really good football match. But for me I'm delighted and it's all about winning.

"It was a game of two halves in some ways in that we had more of the play in the first half. We certainly had to dig in deep in the second half, but it's all about winning quarter-finals and getting to Hampden.

"I didn't think Jamie MacDonald had an awful lot to do saves-wise and I don't think the other goalkeeper did either, but we got the all important goal."

Falkirk now head into their second semi-final in three years, and are still locked in a race for a promotion play-off spot with Queen of the South.

"Anything can happen in the semi-final, it's a one-off game at Hampden Park," said Houston. "We look forward to it, we can relax now and watch the other quarter-finals knowing we're going to be in there."

Queen of the South manager James Fowler said his team now need to focus on finishing in the top four after his side's cup dream was killed off.

He said: "I don't think there was much between the two teams. To lose to a bit of a freak goal is a bit of a killer.

"We never really got going but I don't think there was a better team, we probably cancelled each other out.

"It's a missed opportunity. We wanted to get to Hampden but it's about how we react now as well.

"We're trying to get into the top four and we've got a big game on Tuesday night [against Rangers] to get up for so we need to be ready for that."