Highlights: Scottish Championship leaders Falkirk beat Hamilton Accies

Falkirk scored three first-half goals to ease past Hamilton Academical and move five points clear at the top of the Scottish Championship.

The league leaders' form had slowed recently with just one win from their last four matches, but they blew Accies away in a first-half storm.

After five minutes Barry Maguire headed Aidan Nesbitt's cross into his own net, and Calvin Miller's deflected strike made it two just before the half-hour mark.

Brad Spencer essentially put the result beyond doubt when he tapped in the rebound after his own penalty, given for Jackson Longride's push on Dylan Tait, was saved by goalkeeper Dean Lyness.

Hamilton manager John Rankin made three changes at the break and got a quick response as Euan Henderson scored two minutes after the restart.

But after forcing Falkirk goalkeeper Nicky Hogarth into two good saves as they tried to mount a comeback, Hamilton faded again and John McGlynn's side eased to victory.

The win takes Falkirk five points clear of Ayr United, who face third-place Livingston on Saturday.

Hamilton stay in seventh spot with nine points from their first 10 games.

Hamilton Accies manager John Rankin: "I don't think I can repeat what I said at half-time. It was really frustrating in the first half, it was horrible to watch.

"We changed it in the second half, the reaction came but we can't wait until half-time to do that. You have to be brave, you have to play through the press and ultimately we didn't do that which is the frustrating part."

Falkirk manager John McGlynn: "We passed the ball really well but then I thought we were sloppy in possession and allowed Hamilton back into the game before we got the second and third goals.

"There was a test in the second half when we lost an early goal. It caused us one or two problems but we kind of weathered that storm and I thought we were fairly comfortable after that."

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