Battling Pressley rocks Falkirk

Falkirk frittered away a handsome two-goal advantage in a dramatic late twist in which Pressley was a central figure. The defender scored a hat trick, although the one converted beyond his own substitute goalkeeper, Steven Banks, seemed typical of a luckless afternoon until a remarkable reversal of fortune for a team reduced to 10 men for 65 minutes.

Craig Gordon had spent the weekend recalling his last encounter with Falkirk – only his second first team game – in which he lost four goals and found himself banished for four months in favour of Tepi Moilanen. Yesterday, the misery was revisited. He was sent off for clattering into Darryl Duffy and will be suspended for the visit to Parkhead to play Celtic in a fortnight.

George Burley's biggest fear is unfolding before his eyes. Roman Bednar and Takis Fyssas were joined on the injured list yesterday by Julien Brellier, the victim of a broken rib that will preclude him from the trip to Glasgow.

"It feels like a win because we came back from being two goals down with 10 men," said Burley afterwards. "It shows the character, spirit, energy and desire we have at the club.

"Sometimes in football things go against you and it is how you respond that really matters."

John Hughes was apoplectic with rage at the state of panic which engulfed his players with a famous victory in sight. They were camped near their own 18-yard box for the closing 20 minutes of the match and paid for their anxiety.

"It's a lack of self-belief," said the manager, whose brutal honesty has become a refreshing feature of the Premierleague. "I could see it coming, everybody could, but maybe if we had another year's experience in the league we would have won the game."

Holding the league leaders ought to bode well for the newcomers' hopes of survival but having been punished for such defensive haplessness already this season, Hughes was in no mood to be pragmatic. "We won't stay up if we keep working like that and don't take three points," he said. "We cannot afford to be introverted here. We are allowed to beat the big boys but belief must come from within.

Hearts had arrived at the pristine new stadium with a buoyancy accentuated by the victory against the champions, Rangers, that seemed to cement their credentials for the long haul. Yet a pedestrian start adversely affected the decibel output from the visiting pen, contributing to the bizarre sight of both Paul Hartley and Rudi Skacel – in separate incidents – attempting to rouse the travelling support within the opening 20 minutes.

Inspiration, it seemed, was in short supply. The hosts had no such problems. Russell Latapy, the chain-smoking Caribbean who operates at a tortoise pace these days, nevertheless retains the sharpness of mind to ward off the more able-bodied. The Trinidadian exudes an ambling authority. Not for him the chore of fetching possession. Instead, Hughes has conscripted enough willing and able physical specimens to allow the luxury playmaker to lace their stodgy efforts with style and subtlety.

Alan Gow, a finely chiselled front man, has been an inspired acquisition from Airdrie United but his endeavour is costing Falkirk more by the week as they await the decision from an independent tribunal on an appropriate fee for his services. He was felled like an oak outside the box to present Latapy with his first sight of goal. With an almost lazy swipe of the right book, his free-kick arced over the defensive wall and sparked joyous celebrations as the net rippled. To the amusement of the Hearts support, the effort had in fact skimmed over the crossbar. They had little else to cheer.

Undeterred by this, Falkirk continued to match the league leaders in creativity and, perhaps unsurprisingly, exceed them in work rate. Hearts were in arrears without fashioning a notable opportunity and Latapy was the inspiration. Crawling out of his centre-circle domain, he encountered resistance from two Hearts players and invisible treacle to thread an inviting, inch-perfect pass between Robbie Neilson and Pressley for the darting Darryl Duffy.

The striker nudged the ball past Gordon's groping hands and reaped the benefits of the goalkeeper's desperation. The Hearts and Scotland No.1 was issued a red card by the referee, Ian Brines, and his replacement, Steven Banks, was called upon at the expense of striker Michel Pospisil to shovel the ball out of the net from the striker's clinical penalty kick.

The league leaders' woes were compounded moments later when Brellier declared himself unable to continue after faring worst in a meaty collision. The second enforced change fractured an already fragile formation, with Edgaras Jankauskas too often isolated, and in doing so strengthened Falkirk's stranglehold.

Banks indirectly contributed to the hosts' best chance of augmenting their numerical advantages. His inaccurate kick-out was thudded back in his direction by Craig Ireland. Duffy surged past a square and static defence but the English goalkeeper redeemed himself with a fine block.

It took an hour for Hearts to test Matt Glennon but the Falkirk goalkeeper's reflexes were sharp enough to thwart Skacel. A touchline tangle between Pressley and Gow was the start of an eventful afternoon for the captain. The striker steam rolled into a challenge, winning the ball and leaving Pressley with a dead leg that will prevent his participation in Scotland's early build-up for the forthcoming World Cup double-header.

Duffy, whose pace proved a persistent problem, then feasted on a short back-header from the defender but encountered a diligent Banks. The goalkeeper, though, was helpless to prevent his reflect save from rebounding off Pressley and trundling into the net. "I just kept running and running but the ball just kept getting faster," said Pressley afterwards.

He redeemed himself in the fashion befitting his leadership, finishing adroitly from Skacel's free-kick to ensure a nail biting finish and salvaging a point in added-on time. Andy Webster's long ball caused mayhem in the Falkirk penalty box and while Glennon blocked a Jankauskas header, Pressley headed home the loose ball.

Taken from the Herald