Hearts 4 Falkirk 2

Hearts racked up an impressive 4-2 victory over Falkirk despite suffering a late scare at Tynecastle.

The home side secured three points through strikes from Audrius Ksanavicius, Marius Zaliukas, Andrius Velicka and substitute Christian Nade.

However, goals from Falkirk's Graham Barrett and Pedro Moutinho at the death ensured there was a nervy ending for the hosts.

Hearts made a blistering start and could have been two up inside the first three minutes.

Michael Stewart orchestrated the first move with an inch-perfect pass to Andy Driver and then raced into the box to fire over the bar from close range from the resulting cross.

Moments later Laryea Kingston skipped past Tam Scobbie on the right flank and squared for Ksanavicius who failed to make proper contact with the ball and goalkeeper Tim Krul easily gathered.

Inevitably, the Tynecastle side stormed into the lead in the fourth minute through Ksanavicius.

Kingston played a neat one-two with Eggert Jonsson to be set free on the wing and his pass across the box was met by the diminutive Lithuanian who found the net from 10 yards.

Falkirk finally managed to settle after a costly opening period and Dean Holden saw a fierce shot from the edge of the box palmed over by Steve Banks after seven minutes, and Arnau Riera fired an effort over moments later.

Hearts, however, doubled their advantage in the 27th minute after the Bairns failed to clear their area from a free-kick.

Michael Stewart launched the ball into the box, a defensive header landed at the feet of Zaliukas and he lashed the ball into the net from 12 yards, giving Krul no chance.

Hearts should have been three up before the break after Velicka gave Driver a clear run at goal but the pacy winger cannoned a shot off Krul.

Even though Hearts looked laboured after the restart, they went further ahead after breaking on the counter-attack in the 59th minute.

Tomas Kancelskis emerged from defence and found compatriot Velicka. The Lithuanian headed for Krul's goal at an angle but had no problems finding the corner of the net.

Falkirk manager John Hughes responded to his side going three down by using his full quota of substitutions.

That made no difference as substitute Nade wriggled clear on the edge of the box in the 68th minute before exchange passes with Kingston and finding the net.

Hearts were hungry for more in what was their best performance of the season and forced a series of corners which the Bairns were able to deal with.

To Falkirk's credit, they continued to press for a consolation goal and Barrett managed to find the net for the Bairns three minutes before the end, rounding Banks after being put through by Steven Thomson.

And Moutinho added another two minutes later for Falkirk as Hearts completely switched off.

Teams:

Hearts Banks, Neilson, Kancelskis, Berra, Zaliukas, Jonsson, Kingston, Stewart (Palazuelos 75), Driver,Ksanavicius (Elliot 60), Velicka (Nade 64).

Subs Not Used: Basso, Tall, Karipidis, Ivaskevicius.

Booked: Nade.

Goals: Ksanavicius 5, Zaliukas 27, Velicka 58, Nade 68.

Falkirk Krul, Holden, Barr, Milne, Scobbie, Arfield, Cregg, Riera(Barrett 66), Moutinho, Latapy (Thomson 65),Higdon (Finnigan 65).

Subs Not Used: Olejnik, Allison, Wallner, Craig.

Booked: Barr, Moutinho, Riera.

Goals: Barrett 87, Moutinho 89.

Att: 15,800

Ref: S Dougal (Scotland).

Taken from sportinglife.com