Kris Doolan believes his Partick Thistle side were the better team for the majority of the first half during their 5-2 defeat against Falkirk before Brian Graham’s dismissal turned the game on its head.

Logan Chalmers and Graham both got on the scoresheet early on at the Falkirk Stadium to cancel out Scott Arfield's opener before Graham was sent off for picking up a second yellow card and leaving his team-mates with a mountain to climb.

A hat-trick from Arfield, a goal from Gary Oliver and a late Leon McCann header gave the Bairns a convincing 5-2 victory and extended the Jags’ winless run to three games.

“When you come here you don’t want to concede any goals, and conceding within the first minute makes it a lot harder,” Doolan said. “But after that we get back in the game and take the lead – deservedly so. John McGlynn said we were the better team until the referee changes the game.

“At 2-2 it becomes a great game between two teams who are going at it. And then you lose a player and it becomes a really uphill task. A team as good as Falkirk will move you around, tire you out and then pick you off and that’s what they did.

“The second yellow [for Graham], absolutely no chance. Brian gives the referee a chance to book him, which isn’t great from Brian, and then he’s walking a tightrope. But the second yellow is a toe poke, there’s no force in it.

“It’s not a reckless challenge and I think we will see a lot more reckless challenges than that. And if that’s what we are deeming reckless then you can’t tackle at all.”

Kris Doolan and assistant Paul McDonald at the Falkirk Stadium (Image: SNS)

Both sides were active on transfer deadline day and supporters were given a first glimpse of their latest recruits. Doolan made four changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Morton last weekend. With Harry Milne now at Hearts, Dan O’Reilly was shifted to left-back and Luke McBeth came into the starting line-up at centre-half.

Former Accies captain Scott Martin, who joined Thistle on deadline day in a swap deal that saw Scott Robinson move in the opposite direction, was handed his debut while Ben Stanway came into the starting XI at the expense of Kyle Turner. Terry Ablade, whose splendid assist against Morton ensured the Jags grabbed a point, was preferred to Aidan Fitzpatrick.

John McGlynn made three changes to the Falkirk side that lost 2-1 to Livingston last time out, and it’s fair to say there was one man in particular the home fans were waiting to see: Arfield, who returned to his boyhood club on a free transfer earlier in the week. The former Canada internationalist received a hero’s welcome, while they were also pleased to see Luke Graham back with the Bairns after the centre-half rejoined on loan from Dundee. Oliver was the only other change for the home side, replacing the injured Ross MacIver.

Arfield was the centre of attention from the moment the two sets of players walked onto the park – with the Falkirk players wearing blue-and-white hooped ‘heritage’ jerseys – and he wasted no time in demonstrating why fans were so excited by the return of their prodigal son.

Falkirk advanced straight from kick-off, testing the Thistle defence with an early cross into the box. The visitors couldn’t get it cleared, it fell invitingly for Arfield lurking on the edge of the box, the crowd drew its breath – and the 36-year-old cooly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to send the home fans wild. The game was 45 seconds old.

It wouldn’t take Thistle long to respond, though. There were only 10 minutes played when Chalmers drew the Jags level via a well-executed counter-attack. Ablade played a superb pass to send Chalmers through on goal for a one-v-one, with Graham offering an option for the cut-back. Chalmers didn’t need it though, drilling the ball past Nicky Hogarth for 1-1.

Falkirk were dominating possession without fashioning clear-cut chances and they were soon punished for their lack of creativity when the visitors took the lead midway through the first half. Graham latched onto a long ball forward and headed it to Chalmers – who had swapped wings with Ablade and was now playing on the right – and the winger darted past his man and into the box, drilling a low ball across the face of goal that Graham flicked home from a few yards out.

Brian Graham puts Thistle 2-1 up (Image: SNS)

Once again, the lead wouldn’t last. Keelan Adams drove into the box from the right and was looking threatening as he tumbled to the floor under pressure from Ablade. Referee Ross Hardie was in little doubt and immediately pointed to the spot as Brad Spencer stepped up. David Mitchell saved the initial penalty, but Oliver reacted quickest to stab home the rebound and draw his side level.

It was a breathless first half at the Falkirk Stadium, and it was by no means over yet as Thistle’s afternoon got significantly harder with the dismissal of their captain. Having picked up a booking five minutes earlier, Graham was then shown his second yellow just five minutes later for tripping his namesake Luke Graham deep inside Falkirk territory. It was certainly a foul, but the subsequent yellow the Thistle striker received seemed harsh. Either way it was petulant, and it completely undermined his side’s chances of leaving with anything to show for their efforts.

The away side were still reeling from that dismissal when they fell behind three minutes later. It was a superb, free-flowing move from Falkirk to work the ball into the box, and Arfield was at hand to grab his second of the afternoon with another composed finish.

When the players came back out for the second half, the only question left to be answered was how commanding Falkirk’s win would be. McGlynn’s men started the second half the same way they finished the first, with their tails up and subjecting the pinned-back Jags to wave after wave of attack.

Falkirk won their second penalty of the afternoon on the hour mark when Stanway handled a Spencer cross inside his own box – not that he knew much about it – and there was no doubt who would be taking this one. Up stepped Arfield, who slammed the ball home to seal the hat-trick on his second debut.

The Scott Arfield Show was brought to a close on 72 minutes when the midfielder was subbed off and, rather aptly, it concluded with a standing ovation from the home supporters.

Substitute McCann added Falkirk’s fifth to rub more salt into Thistle’s smarting wounds with 10 minutes to go, connecting well with a cross at the back post to steer a header past Mitchell and add some more gloss to the scoreline.

McGlynn was delighted with Arfield’s impact and the victory, which lifts Falkirk back to the top of the Championship standings.

He said: “You couldn’t have written the script for Scotty to score within the first minute. The fans were always going to be brilliant with him but how do you beat a hat-trick in his first game?

“We started well and scored our goal but then it was 1-1 with a really good finish from Logan Chalmers.

“Then it goes 2-2 and I thought, 'My god, what's happening?'. It was a brilliant game at that point but the sending off changed things.

“We managed go get our noses in front by half-time and then it's a hard job for Partick to get back into it. It was a professional job from us and we are delighted go get back to the top of the table which sets us up nicely for next week against Ayr.”