A couple of hours after our match I was lying in the hospital watching on a TV as the doctors put a stent in my heart.. it just felt surreal

Stalwart Smith was back with Bairns six days after op for blocked artery

- FRASER WILSON

PAUL SMITH felt stinging frustration as Falkirk crashed out of the Scottish Cup to Raith Rovers in extra time.

As always, it hurt.

But a far worse crushing pain would strike the Bairns assistant within half an hour of the full-time whistle on that January cup epic.

A frightening sequence of events saw John McGlynn's righthand man in agony in the club doctor's room at Falkirk Stadium.

Then he was blue-lighted to hospital where he had a stent inserted following a heart attack The 62-year-old is fully recovered now.

Remarkably he was back with his team in the director's box rather than the dugout - just six days later as the Bairns gained a league match revenge in Kirkcaldy as they marched on to the Championship title.

Today, 27 weeks on from that traumatic evening, Smith will be by McGlynn's side at Falkirk Stadium as they lead their side out in front of a sell-out crowd against Dundee United for the club's first top-flight campaign in 16 seasons.

And for that, the former Bairns midfielder will be forever grateful to the NHS heroes at St John's Hospital in Livingston and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

They worked wonders to clear a severely blocked artery just two hours after he had delivered his usual post-match debrief to his players following their cup exit.

Smith told MailSport: "The docs said if it had been the main artery on the other side of my heart that had become blocked then I might not have made it.

"Frightening? To be honest it was all just surreal. It happened so quickly.