The crisis is confirmed

A FIFTH STRAIGHT defeat yesterday categorically confirmed that Hearts are officially in the grips of their worst run of results for nine years.

The once-proud Edinburgh club have gone through 11 manager since current owner Vladamir Romanov arrived in the club's board room. These are not settled times and it showed at the Falkirk Stadium.

With that fifth defeat staring them in the face Hearts took to the field in a clearly apprehensive mood. A sizeable travelling support was also largely mute until their side took the lead, somewhat surprisingly, after 26 minutes. Until the strike, the team looked timid, disjointed and overly defensive.

The goal, scored by Ruben Palazuelos, galvanised the Hearts players and fans alike; but when the dust had settled it was clear that the damage done to Falkirk was far from terminal and as the game wore on the confidence briefly engineered gradually dissolved.

The home side re-grouped and returned to the assault the visitors trembled more and more. Carl Finnigan stabbed home the equaliser in 77 minutes and when Michael Higdon drilled home Falkirk's winner four minutes later, Hearts were reduced to their former, timid, self-doubting selves.

There appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel for Hearts, but at least there is Gretna at the end of the table. Were it not for the SPL newcomers, this would definitely be the beginning of a relegation battle for Hearts. Even so, if Gretna do mount a revival, Hearts could be in trouble.

Lacking in cohesion and invention, the absence of confidence was clear for all to see. Yet if confidence is a fragile commodity it is also something that can be conjured up in an instant.

After an indifferent start, when Steven Thomson was all too easilt allowed to dominate the middle of the park, Hearts were sparked into life by an impressive individual run from full-back Lee Wallace.

The movement was finished with a fine shot that was pushed round the post by an equally impressive save from Tim Krul in the Falkirk goal.

The resulting corner was punched away by Krul, but eventually found its way to Andy Driver, whose cross was headed home by Palazuelos.

The relief in the Hearts camp was almost palpable. From timidity they moved into a period of dominance. Driver was industrious and Calum Elliot started to cause problems for the home defence. Even when under pressure the defensive pairing of Christophe Berra and Ibrahim Tall looked solid and capable against a Falkirk front-line that was nothing if not hard working.

Even Falkirk manager John Hughes admitted that at the turn around his side were up against the wall. "It should have been over and done by half-time," he confessed. "Hearts were the better side in the first half."

Yet Hughes is not the sort to let a bad situation lie. Soon after the break he introduced Finnigan and Russell Latapy to the fray, a change in personnel that was ultimately to return Hearts back to the doldrums, causing heads to drop and bringing the spectre of a relegation struggle that bit closer.

Finnigan hit the post with his first touch of the ball and on 77 minutes stabbed the ball into the roof of the net for Falkirk's equaliser. Four minutes later he was the link man between Latapy and Michael Higdon for the latter to rifle home the decider.

Higdon had worked hard all afternoon. When his side were a goal down he continued to test the Hearts defence as much as he could, bustling against Tall and Berra and firing shots off against Steven Banks. He noted, also, the difference in resolve between the two sides. "After our first goal you could feel we were on the up," he said. "They were just whacking it the ball and clearing their lines." Defeat beckoned.

Such defensive ploys are always nerve jangling, but when the opposition contains the likes of Latapy it is always a dangerous one. The veteran dictated the pace and direction of the game from his introduction, sometimes taking a man on, sometimes spreading the ball across the pitch.

It was an inventive run of Latapy's that finally ensured all the points would remain with Falkirk. Receiving the ball in the middle of Hearts' territory his change of pace took him to the edge of the penalty area were he laid the ball square for Finnigan, who managed to find time to turn back on himself and deliver to Higdon, whose powerful shot ripped into the Hearts goal.

Hearts assistant head coach Steven Frail is all too aware of the precarious position he and his side are now in. "Confidence is low, but we need to be big and stand up," he said.

The transfer window opens in a few days and in time-honoured tradition the Hearts management team will, no doubt be casting an eye east to see who is available to strengthen his squad.

Cash restraints are, though, likely to demand that before anybody arrives, other members of the squad will have to shown the door. That should not be a problem.

There is no doubting the individual quality of the squad as it stands, but a fresh infusion of blood may well be what is needed for the majority of those players to start playing once again as members of a Hearts team.

Taken from the Sunday Herald