Craig Sibbald’s header 15 minutes from time saw Falkirk beat second-tier rivals Hibernian 1-0 at Hampden Park on Saturday to book their place in the Scottish Cup final.

Now the Championship side will face the winners of Sunday’s second semi-final between Inverness and Glasgow giants Celtic in the May 30 final at Hampden.

Victory for Falkirk was revenge for their defeat by Hibernian in a seven-goal thriller in the semi-finals in 2013 and left them one game away from a first Cup triumph since 1957.

But this result left the Edinburgh club still looking to lift the Scottish Cup for the first time since 1902 and wondering what they had to do to break their ‘curse’.

The Easter Road side saw Fraser Fyvie hit the post just before half-time and fellow midfielder Scott Allan also struck the woodwork in the second half, with Falkirk offering little up front.

But the Bairns scored the only goal of the game in the 75th minute when midfielder Sibbald headed in a cross from Blair Alston.

Falkirk also saw goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald make several fine saves and Bairns manager Peter Houston told Sky Sports: “I’m absolutely delighted. We had to survive quite a bit of pressure from Hibs, but the stats that count are the goals for and goals against.”

Sibbald added: “We didn’t have many chances so I was glad when it went in.”

Meanwhile, dejected Hibs manager Alan Stubbs insisted the better team had lost.

“You have to take your opportunities, we haven’t done that today,” he said. “That’s the reason why we haven’t put ourselves in the final.

“I don’t think anyone could deny the best team hasn’t gone through,” the former Celtic centre-back added.