Dunfermline manager Stephen Kenny has admitted he will use his team's final-day meeting with Falkirk to experiment ahead of next weekend's Scottish Cup final against Celtic.

The Fifers will be denied the services of cup-tied loan pair Tam McManus and Stephen Glass at Hampden, along with the suspended Gary Mason and on-loan winger Jim O'Brien after Celtic decided not to grant the youngster permission to play against them.

Kenny will draft in replacements for the quartet against Falkirk and is looking for his fringe players to force their way back into his plans for the final, as well as defend an unbeaten streak at home which dates back to January.

Ironically, after last weekend's defeat to Inverness confirmed relegation to the First Division, he also knows that a first victory over Falkirk this season would take Dunfermline on to 35 points - their best total for the past three campaigns.

He said: "We have to make changes for next weekend and that means we'll have to experiment a little bit against Falkirk.

"Some of the players haven't played for a few weeks, so we'll have to see how they go and make decisions for the cup final.

"But at the same time we will be as strong as we can be for a game which is, after all, a derby match.

"We want to finish the season well at home and we want to give the fans a boost ahead of the cup final."

Kenny insists he was slightly surprised by Celtic's decision to prevent O'Brien from playing in the cup final.

The 19-year-old's loan agreement stipulated that he would not be allowed to play against his employers and he missed the 2-1 defeat at Parkhead in March as a result.

Reports indicated, however, that Celtic manager Gordon Strachan was contemplating allowing the Republic of Ireland Under-21 cap to play at Hampden.

But Dunfermline suffered a blow when O'Brien was finally told in a phone call from Strachan on Thursday night that he would not be granted permission to play.

Kenny added: "I wasn't sure what was going to happen but it was a little bit of a surprise because the indications were that Jim might be allowed to play.

"It's disappointing because he has been an important player for us, but we just have to get on with it and look for somebody else to come in."