David McCracken thinks Falkirk's play-off experience will be a 'massive' help
Falkirk captain David McCracken believes his side's play-off experience will be a "massive" help when they take on Dundee United.
The Bairns kick off their third Ladbrokes Premiership play-off campaign in four years when they travel to Tannadice on Tuesday night.
They lost to Hamilton in the semi-finals after an epic win over Queen of the South in 2014, and then fell at the final hurdle last year against Kilmarnock after finishing above Hibernian in the league and beating Alan Stubbs' men over two legs.
They have again confounded the odds to finish above Dundee United, who beat Morton 5-1 in the quarter-finals, and McCracken feels their knowledge of the format could give them an edge.
"I think it's massive," said the 35-year-old, who was promoting BT Sport's live coverage of the games. "It was pretty hard the way it finished last year but it's going to stand us in good stead knowing that it doesn't matter really what happens in the first game, there is a lot that can happen in the second game.
"They are going to come into it buoyed but the fact of the matter is that they have had two extra games than us. We have had a little bit of a break and time to prepare looking into these games.
"We know from the experience the first year of the play-offs we played those first two games and, going into the game against Hamilton on the Tuesday night, the boys were feeling it a bit. But their confidence will be up so we just have to see how it pans out."
Falkirk have twice beaten United at home this season, scoring six times in the process, while the games at Tannadice have been much closer, United winning 1-0 before a 1-1 draw.
So McCracken knows that there is no need to win the contest in the first leg.
"There's been some really good games between us this year and some good performances and results from us," he said.
"The first game is possibly about managing it and seeing where we are at the end of the 90 minutes, and going again on Friday. Whatever the score in the first leg, it goes to the back-burner and everything goes into the Friday.
"We know what it's about and the management team will put certain things in place to help us with the recovery."