A disputed penalty award six minutes from the interval gifted Falkirk the points in a hard-fought tussle with Ross County at Victoria Park.
Andy Thomson converted the spot-kick for his 11th goal of the season as the Bairns sat back in the second half on their way to the top of the table.
County were looking up for it and Steve McGarry just failed to connect with a Sean Kilgannon cross as the home side went all out for an early goal.
David Winters was unlucky to see his goal-bound effort headed off the goal line by John Hughes in the 11th minute.
Falkirk were seldom seen as an attacking force but they should have gone ahead in the 24th minute when Andy Thomson side-footed the ball wide of Stuart Garden's left-hand post with the goal gaping.
Winters was proving a real threat and he was on the end of another decent delivery from John Robertson, but Allan Ferguson held on to his looping header.
Falkirk were awarded what appeared to be a rather soft penalty six minutes from the break when Robertson was adjudged to have tripped Darryl Duffy inside the box and Thomson made no mistake from the spot.
Falkirk took the initiative at the start of the second half.
The home side, however, had a great chance four minutes from the end when Sean Higgins squared the ball to Jamie McCunnie on the edge of the 18-yard box and the Under-21 international fired his shot over the bar. In injury time, County's Stuart Malcolm headed over at the far post.