Falkirk and Aberdeen fought out a nil-nil at the Falkirk Stadium this evening.
Dons keeper Jamie Langfield made a stunning double close-range save from Kjartan Finnbogason and had earlier parried a Danijel Marceta curler.
The best efforts from Mark McGhee’s men came at the end of the match.
Substitute Peter Pawlett rattled the bar with a fizzing shot, then Robert Olejnik saved a Mark Kerr drive.
In perfect conditions, May gave young Slovenian Marceta his first start in the league as the Bairns sought to get some points on the board after a fruitless beginning to their campaign.
The left foot of Charlie Mulgrew and the right boot of Scott Arfield dictated much of the first-half action at the Falkirk Stadium and it was from an Arfield set-piece that Marceta came close to scoring in 16 minutes.
The young Falkirk midfielder swerved a low free-kick round the Aberdeen wall and, despite it heading wide of the target, Langfield threw himself at it, but let the ball escape his grasp.
Finnigan pounced to cut the ball back but the Aberdeen defence cleared only as far as Marceta, whose shot from the edge of the box was tipped wide by the Dons goalie.
Prior to that, Arfield, a recent signing target for Hibernian, had a shot deflected inches wide, and it was his prompting in midfield, attempting to release Marceta, Finnigan and Finnbogason, that looked like creating the opening goal.
Dons boss McGhee’s best hope of breaking the deadlock looked to be Mulgrew, whose crosses into the Falkirk box reminded the home side that they were not going to get everything their own way.
The visitors’ greater height was placing Falkirk under pressure but, having moved from right-back to central defence, Darren Barr now looks a more accomplished player and he dominated Aberdeen centre-forward Lee Miller in the air.
Another player in red, though, would get his chance. Andrew Considine was in the ideal place to prod the ball home when a Mulgrew corner fell to him just four yards out, but his surprise at receiving the ball was betrayed in his weak shot into the chest of Olejnik.
Just before the half-hour, Olejnik punched another Mulgrew in-swinging corner from right underneath the bar and seconds later yet another corner from the Aberdeen left-back was flicked on by Miller but cleared by Finnigan.
Falkirk’s best chance in the opening period came about when Finnigan raced down the right wing and crossed for Finnbogason, who nicked in ahead of Jerel Ifil and volleyed inches wide.
Half-time in the home changing room would have been an interesting place, for moments before Olejnik and team-mate Arfield had a set-to for which both received a yellow card.
The Austrian keeper raced out of his goal, incensed at the lack of cover provided by midfielder Arfield, and the latter pushed his goalie in the face as team-mates rushed to stop the civil war.
In the second period, for once Miller had the beating of Barr and his perfectly weighted flick-on was controlled by Darren Mackie, but his shot on the turn was saved comfortably by Olejnik.
The best chance of the match fell to Finnbogason on the hour mark. Finnigan’s cross was met by the Icelandic Under-21 player, but his header from six yards was parried superbly by Langfield and his stabbed rebound was hit straight at the keeper.
Finnbogason hit his head repeatedly off the upright in mock fashion as his failure to find the net sunk in.
Aberdeen pressed in the closing stages, and in their captain Kerr had a player with the appetite to test the Falkirk number one.
Fraser Fyvie was replaced by Pawlett midway through the second half, the former showing his rawness early in the match when he was booked for a blatant trip on Arfield.
And 18-year-old Pawlett was almost the hero for the travelling Red Army when he thumped a right-foot shot off the bar.
The Dons looked the side more likely to score as they laid siege to Falkirk’s goal, with Kerr stinging the palms of Olejnik, but Barr made a number of clearances to give the Bairns the point they at least deserved.
Falkirk manager Eddie May: “We had the chances to win it. Their keeper made some decent saves. Near the end they could have won it. We have to be more clinical in our finishing.
“We try to put good quality in the box. Marceta was fantastic tonight.
“We’ll keep on working away and if we can win games we will start climbing the league. We won’t panic. I’m delighted we got a clean sheet.”
Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee: “Falkirk could have lost it. In the first half we had several chances from corners and we hit the bar at the end.
“Our system didn’t work. We played a 4-3-3 but we didn’t pass the ball, we tried to get the ball in behind from the back.
“In the second half we went to a 4-4-2 and we looked much better and with a four across the middle it looked as though we might win the game.
“Sometimes it’s about giving the players a platform to deliver and that 4-3-3 stymied them. It didn’t allow the midfield to get on the ball.
“When we went to a four, it was much more understandable for them.”
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