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PETER HOUSTON says he likes his Falkirk players to be brave. Never to hide.

When Craig Sibbald walked on to the park for Thursday night’s play-off, he was the definition.

Head shaved to the wood.

But it wasn’t a fashion statement. It was a confrontation.

He was tackling an issue head on that could have drained his confidence – losing his hair to the

savagely unfair condition of alopecia at the age of 21.

Sibbald could have retreated into his shell and let it diminish him. Instead he empowered himself to fight back against his own immune system, shearing off the stigma with a set of clippers.

And he ended up leaving Kilmarnock in his wake with the two defining moments of the game.

The softly-spoken playmaker spoke for the first time about his condition after the Bairns’ 1-0

victory and insisted: “This is the best way to deal with it.

“I’ve had a bit of stick but then when you tell people what’s caused it – you have alopecia – they're quite sympathetic.

“My hair was getting so thin, just falling out all the time – so I just shaved it off.

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“Some of the boys are saying I look okay on it, so I’m quite happy with that!

“I had it when I was younger, but it’s come back. I had a chest infection and that might have triggered it, I don’t know but hopefully it doesn’t stay too long. When I had it as a kid, my hair eventually all grew back in.”

Incredibly, Thursday night was Sibbald’s 200th game for Falkirk, earning him a place in the Bairns’ Hall of Fame, just a day after his 21st birthday.

Yet both he and his manager reckoned it was one of his worst days in dark blue. Despite that, he turned the game twice in what Falkirk hope will be an irreversible direction.

First, his miracle clearance off the line denied a Kris Boyd goal-bound effort then his brilliantly aware no-look pass set-up Will Vaulks for the injury-time winner meant he produced the two defining moments of the game.

He laughed: “I think my touch was worse in my 200th game than it was in my first against Brechin – I was terrible.

“But we got the win. That’s all the matters and we’re happy.

“It was about time I did take a decent touch – the 91st minute.

“I just saw Will out the corner of my eye and he was free so it was a simple pass and he

slotted it away.

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“He was screaming for it and I couldn’t ignore him.”

Houston added: “Craig’s been a superstar for Falkirk since I came in.

“Every single week he grafts hard and most of the time he plays well.

“Against Killie, I don’t know if he was nervous or what – the wee man is that quiet he won’t tell me!

“But his use of the ball and his touch is great. What I always say to any player I work with is, even if you are playing badly, don’t hide.

“Sibbs doesn’t – even in the 90th minute when the game hasn’t been going his way, he wants the ball.”

And he and his team-mates have proven time and again they know how to use it during the moments in the game’s dusk when everyone else is waiting for the final whistle.

Nine times this season, the Bairns have scored beyond 90 minutes.

That’s earned them nine points more in the league than they would have had.

In Pictures: Best images from Falkirk's 1-0 win over Killie ...

It’s also helped them win Cup games, bludgeoning their way past Hibs and through Kilmarnock in the first-leg Premiership play-off.

On Thursday night, a single minute of injury time was on the board – but it was enough.

It’s like the ticking clock is their friend and their opponent’s enemy.

Sibbald insisted: “We definitely feel like that. The past few weeks, it’s like that every time we play.

“If it’s 0-0 and there’s 80 minutes played, we’re still confident we’ll win.

“That’s a good mentality to have and hopefully if we need it in the second leg, we can find it again.

“We’re 90 minutes away from promotion. If we keep a clean-sheet, we’ve done it. But it’s not going to be easy. Killie are a good side and passed well.

“It was different because we’ve not played them all season. It took us a while to get used

to them and their movement was good in the first half. We couldn’t get near them.

“But at half-time the gaffer told us to get in their faces more and thankful we did it and got the goal.

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“It won’t change anything though. We’ll face them again with the same mentality.

“We’ve scored in most games this season, even away, so if we need to turn up a goal I’m confident we can.”

That stat is impressive. They’ve found the net in 41 of their 46 games this season.

But Sibbald, who has spent his entire Bairns career playing in the Championship, has seen enough disappointment as a fan to know they’re taking nothing for granted this afternoon.

He said: “It’s been my dream to get into the Premiership – and I’ve been a Falkirk fan since I was eight.

“I was at Brockville when we won the league and never got up in 2003 and I was there at Kilmarnock in the stands when they relegated us in 2010 on the last day.

“Ryan Flynn missed a great chance right at the death so hopefully we can put that right.

“It was a bad day for the town and we don’t want to feel that again.”