Four minutes later and Yogi’s men were celebrating the season’s first goal. Again it was McPherson who made ground to send in another accurate cross and he watched in amazement as Spartans defender, Summers, bulleted a header past his own goalkeeper.
It was all Falkirk at this stage and the mobility of Thomson and Duffy was impressive as they stretched the homesters defence time and time again.
Goal number two arrived in 18 minutes and it looked like a soft penalty award as the referee spotted a rather innocuous handball from a Blyth defender. Darryl Duffy wasn’t arguing as he blasted the ball straight down the centre of the goal to record his first counter for the club.
Thomson almost made it three within minutes as he gathered a loose ball which had cannoned off the goalkeeper before thumping it against the face of the bar.
Darren Hill made his first contribution in 23 minutes when he made a fine blocking save from six yards. Five minutes later back came Falkirk with Thomson clean through on goal but all credit to the Spartans goalkeeper who made a fine diving save to his left.
Half-time Blyth Spartans 0 Falkirk 2
Spartans were in real trouble as the second-half restarted when a barrage of shots were kicked off the line before Scally finished the move with an effort which landed in the terracing.
The visitors were not to be denied though and Duffy made it three with a great individual effort in 47 minutes. Sharp launched a superb 40 yard pass into the path of the former Rangers youngster and he chested the ball past a defender before finishing with a great shot into the far corner.
Striking partner Thomson was not to be outdone and added another in 56 minutes. A cute Latapy flick sent the hitman racing into the box and he coolly slotted the ball under the body of the advancing ‘keeper to make it 4-0.
Falkirk just couldn’t stop scoring and the deadly duo were at it again a minute later. This time Thomson was the supplier as he unselfishly squared across the six-yard box for Duffy to lash a shot high into the net.
McAnespie replaced Latapy in 57 minutes before Yogi replaced the strike force of Thomson and Duffy with Portuguese trialist Moutinho and American Steve Loverso five minutes later. Both Thomson and Duffy left the field to rapturous applause from the appreciative Falkirk support.
The substitutes had barely entered the field of play when Andy Lawrie decided to explode a 25 yard rocket shot past the bewildered goalkeeper for a stunning sixth goal. John O’Neil was withdrawn to allow Ryan McStay to join the action with 20 minutes left.
Again, McStay had barely time to get involved when fine interplay between McPherson and McAnespie allowed the popular “Hagi” to cross for Pedro Moutinho to head powerfully home. You began to feel for the homesters as they looked to be wilting under the pressure.
Mark Campbell gave way to Darren Barr before Blyth finally got on the scoresheet with a well-taken goal. Graham Fenton collected a ball twenty yards from goal before shooting high into Hill’s right hand top corner, the young Goalkeeper probably unsighted.
John Hughes and Brian Rice were clearly delighted with the display and the performance of Duffy and Thomson up front suggests they will give First Division defences a hard time this season.
Yogi said after the match, "I'm obviously delighted with a scoreline like that. It's a good confidence builder to start our new season off, and I was particularly happy for our new strikeforce to chalk up a few goals. There was not one failure out there tonight, and we're all looking forward to Saturday's match."
Full-time Blyth Spartans 1 Falkirk 7
Line-up :
Hill; Lawrie, McPherson, MacKenzie, Campbell (Barr 73), Sharp; O’Neil (McStay 70), Scally, Latapy (McAnespie 57); Thomson (Moutinho 62) and Duffy (Loverso 62). Not used J.C. Hutchison (GK) and Nicholls.
Attendance: 426