Falkirk lifted themselves off the bottom of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League after putting four past Hamilton, with Burton O'Brien's scintillating long-range effort after 72 minutes the pick of the bunch.

Steve Lovell opened the scoring right on half-time with the impressive Scott Arfield helping himself to a brace in a game that only came to life after the break. Afterwards, John Hughes, the Falkirk manager, was keen to talk up his side's second-half performance after witnessing a drab opening 45 minutes in which the visitors looked like the hungrier side with Falkirk struggling to string passes together all too often.

"In the first half I felt Hamilton were the better team," said Hughes. "We were a little bit fortunate to go in at 1-0 but we'll take it. We had to take them in and give them the belief to go back out and pass the ball and I think in the second half, when we did that, we were worthy winners. I felt our second-half performance definitely merited us to go and win the match."

Such a performance will breed much-needed confidence in a Falkirk side who have struggled to get going this season, with Saturday's result only their second win of the campaign. But despite their sticky start, Hughes is determined to persevere with a slick, passing style of football and believes it is only a matter of time until his side reaps its rewards.

"I keep saying to the boys that we can't win every week but if we're going to go down, let's go down playing a style of football that I've tried to bring to the club over the past five- and-a-half years," he said.

"The frustrating thing is we didn't do that in the first half but in the second half, when we did it, we go and win the match so we need to keep believing in it. All credit to the boys, they're a wonderful bunch and when they act like themselves they're a match for anybody and we'll give anybody a game in the SPL."

Hamilton's midweek cup exploits saw them triumph over Motherwell in extra-time and this had a visible effect on the Lanarkshire side, who began to look jaded in the second half, allowing a much- improved Falkirk to take advantage.

However, they will feel aggrieved to have gone down to such a heavy defeat after controlling large periods of the first half and manager Billy Reid was quick to point out that the scoreline did not do his team justice.

"I'm not going to be despondent about the score, it's not as if we were outclassed, I don't think that was the case at all out there," he said. "I thought the two young guys, McCarthy and McArthur, were outstanding for us.

"I can't speak highly enough about them, they'll go on to become two top players. It's the old cliche that goals change games and if we'd scored early then who knows what would have happened."

Reid will be looking for his side to bounce back as soon as possible but that will be no easy task with the next test coming against Celtic at Parkhead this weekend. He said, "We'll go and try and win the game but it's a big ask against a team like Celtic."