Falkirk prove more than able test for Hearts

RAY HEPBURN

5 Dec 1991

Hearts 1, Falkirk 1

HEARTS manager Joe Jordan had cautioned that Falkirk's visit to Tynecastle would provide a stern test for his league-leading side -- and he was proved correct in his assessment.

Falkirk may have had less pressure and lacked Hearts' technical superiority, but they certainly grafted for manager Jim Jeffries.

Scott Sloan scored his first goal for Falkirk against the run of play in the opening half and Hearts Scott Crabbe drilled in the Edinburgh club's equaliser soon after the interval.

The match ended in an unhappy note when George Wright was stretchered off with a knee injury, which he compounded as he fell.

The early current predictably ran Hearts' way and although they made good use of the ball there was no penetration at the end of the precise patterns.

Mind you, after 18 minutes Gary Mackay fed Crabbe on the edge of the penalty area and after he had made ground across the face of the box, his left-foot shot was held low by Ian Westwater.

After 27 minutes Hearts believed they had broken through, when Mackay hit a superb shot on the half volley from 16 yards which seemed to be by-passing Westwater, but John Hughes blocked the drive to keep Falkirk level.

Three minutes later Ian Baird tested Westwater with an angled drive from the right, but even a deflection off Neil Oliver could not beat the former Tynecastle favourite, for the Falkirk keeper twisted to save at the expense of a corner.

After all that pressure it was a stunning blow for Hearts when Falkirk took the lead.

Kevin McAllister was released by a long throw from Westwater, and his low cut back was swept in to the net by Sloan.

Hearts retaliated quickly and in 36 minutes Mackay's free kick was flicked on by John Robertson to Crabbe but the striker miskicked in front of goal.

Two minutes before the interval Robertson again provided the service for Crabbe, with a driven cross from the left, and the younger player's back header was just a foot too high.

Hearts equalised after 48 minutes when John Millar lofted the ball into the area and Robertson headed on to Crabbe, who made no mistake with a low drive from eight yards.

They might have taken the lead 11 minutes later when a Crabbe corner again offered Davie McPherson a chance to illustrate his danger in the air, and Robertson's header was stopped on the line by Westwater.

With 17 minutes remaining Ian Ferguson, who replaced Tosh McKinlay, headed inches over with his first touch of the ball from a curling McKay cross on the right.

But at the other end Falkirk threatened when Sloan latched on to a McAllister through ball.

It took a fine save from Henry Smith to stop the striker notching his second goal.

HEARTS -- Smith, McLaren, McKinlay, Levein, Mackay, McPherson, Crabbe, Wright, Baird, Millar, Robertson.

Substitutes -- Ferguson, Hogg.

FALKIRK -- Westwater, Duffy, Oliver, Hughes, Baptie, Rice, McAllister, Taylor, May, Sloan, Smith.

Substitutes -- Lennox, Mooney.

Referee -- D Hope (Erskine).

Taken from the Herald