MORTON goalkeeper Derek Gaston says he would prefer to have Kilmarnock rather than Falkirk in next season’s Championship as it would help freshen up the division.

Killie lost 1-0 at Falkirk in the first leg of the Premiership play-off final on Thursday night and host the Bairns in the return match tomorrow as they look to salvage their top-flight status.

Ton shot-stopper Gaston will watch on with interest and admits that although he reckons Falkirk offer just as much to the second tier, he fancies having the chance to play at Rugby Park next term.

The 29-year-old told the Tele: “When you go to Falkirk it’s always a pretty decent crowd, so I don’t think there would be too much difference in terms of going to Kilmarnock.

“I think their fanbase has been dwindling a wee bit in recent years with them not really been performing. Kilmarnock are a bigger club because they’ve been in the Premier League for a number of years, but I think Falkirk have the potential to be just as big a club and have the 
infrastructure to match them.

“If Falkirk were to stay down they have the stability and the core of a squad and I’d fancy they would be up there challenging at the top of the league again next season.

“If Kilmarnock come down there would be more question marks, whether the board will throw money at it to get straight back up or whether they’d struggle a wee bit.

“You look at St Mirren coming down last year — it’s a tougher league than people maybe realise that it is. 

“It’s hard for teams coming down to go straight back up, especially when you lose your best players because they are on the most money and you have to do a major rebuild.

“But putting all that aside, I would personally prefer Falkirk to go up and Kilmarnock to come down just because it’s a change; it gets a bit repetitive going and playing at the same places every year. 

“Kilmarnock coming down would be a wee bit different. We’ve not been in their league and it would be a new club to play against.

“I’ve only played at Rugby Park once — it was a closed-doors pre-season friendly last year — but I haven’t played a competitive game there so that would be something to look forward to.”

When asked for a prediction on who he thought would come out on top in tomorrow’s play-off tussle, which the Bairns lead 1-0 going into the second leg, Gaston stopped just short of a verdict.

He added: “I think it will be close, a goal in it after the two legs. Falkirk have a great mentality. 

“They have played a few extra games, but they have belief and the positive atmosphere about the club. Kilmarnock, on the other hand, don’t want to be in the play-offs and they are maybe going in on a run of a few bad results and a negative atmosphere about the club.

“So I think that could play a part and after getting a good result in the first leg gives Falkirk something to build on.”

Morton brought down the curtain on the 2015-16 campaign with a match against Peter Houston’s promotion hopefuls, losing 1-0 at the Falkirk Stadium.

Gaston had given Ton hope with a penalty stop to deny John Baird at 0-0, and he admitted it was about time he produced a penalty success after saving just one of his last seven faced.

The keeper explained: “It was an alright penalty — not great, not bad — with a wee bit of height on it and I got one hand on it to push it to my right. 

“I was a bit relieved that the boy following up wasn’t able to put it into the net. It was good to keep the penalty out — it was about time I saved one!

“I’ve not saved one all season, and can’t remember the last time I saved one, possibly Falkirk away a couple of seasons ago [from Rory Loy on February 1 2014].

“Surprisingly at Albion Rovers I had a good reputation for saving penalties, including in a play-off final penalty shoot-out against Stranraer. 

“For some reason it hasn’t happened so far at Morton. I think I’ve maybe saved three or four since coming here, but considering the amount I’ve saved in the past, that’s quite disappointing for me.”