Falkirk 1-1 Hearts

Andrius Velicka continued his fine form with a raking strike from 20 yards to fire Hearts in front in a scrappy game.

Falkirk keeper Jeroen Lambers did well to stop two first-half headers from Velicka but was at fault for the goal.

Latapy rescued his side when he smartly steered a low shot into the corner of the net after 83 minutes.

Gordon hopes to see Pressley return

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Falkirk were unchanged after a good run of results but Hearts, as they have done so often this season, made several alterations.

Jose Goncalves and Ibrahim Tall were absent, along with Pressley, while Paul Hartley and Robbie Neilson dropped to the bench.

In their absence Julien Brellier was recalled along with Nerijus Barasa, Lee Wallace, Christos Karipidis and Jamie Mole.

Strong winds and driving rain made for difficult conditions but the visitors were quick to settle and looked the more menacing side in the early stages.

Velicka was first to threaten and Lambers did very well to get a hand to the striker's close range header from a Bruno Aguiar free kick.

Lambers pulled off another fine stop from Velicka when he beat away the Lithuanian's diving header after a smart cross from Saulius Mikoliunas.

Christophe Berra, skipper for Hearts on Monday, then misjudged his headed effort as he rose above the Falkirk defence.

As the wretched weather eased, Falkirk managed to find their passing rhythm and mounted a few attacks of their own.

Paul Hartley was among the Hearts substitutes

Paul Hartley was among the Hearts substitutes

On the half hour, Steven Thomson tested Craig Gordon with a drilled strike from 20 yards, while Anthony Stokes headed weakly at the goalkeeper from a promising position.

Falkirk finished the first half on top and Alan Gow fizzed a long range shot over the crossbar after a jinking run.

Veteran playmaker Latapy stung the hands of Gordon with a powerful free kick after the restart.

But it was Hearts who went in front with a goal out of the blue when Velicka's powerful shot skidded beyond the grasp of Lambers, who looked slow to react.

Falkirk responded with a shot from Liam Craig that Gordon spilled but the keeper recovered to beat Gow to the loose ball.

Mole should have doubled Hearts' lead when he wriggled free inside the penalty box but the striker shot straight at Lambers.

Gordon was at full-stretch to push away a Latapy drive but the man from Trinidad was not to be denied.

Gow danced past a couple of challenges before feeding the ball low into the danger zone and Latapy cleverly stroked a first-time shot into the corner of the net from 14 yards.

Both teams had a chance to win the game in stoppage time.

Aguiar saw his scuffed shot hit team-mate Juho Makela and spin wide of the target.

And Gow had an effort from close range blocked by Karipidis after Stokes passed up the chance to shoot inside the six yard box.

Falkirk: Lambers, Ross (Dodd 17), Scobbie (Twaddle 63), Barr, Milne, Latapy, Cregg, Thomson, O'Donnell (Craig 63), Gow, Stokes. Subs Not Used: Higgins, John Stewart, Lima, McManus.

Booked: Scobbie. Goal: Latapy 84.

Hearts: Gordon, Zaliukas, Wallace, Karipidis, Berra, Barasa, Brellier (Hartley 90), Aguiar, Mikoliunas, Velicka, Mole (Makela 75). Subs Not Used: MacDonald, Neilson, Pospisil, Ivaskevicius, Jonsson.

Booked: Aguiar, Barasa. Goal: Velicka 65.

Att: 6,289

Ref: M McCurry

Taken from the BBC