Falkirk 2 - 1 Hearts

Christophe Berra, the Hearts captain, blasted his team-mates last week, saying that not enough of them were displaying the commitment required to succeed in the SPL.

The none-too-subtle subtext was that the assorted foreigners at the club don't care enough about a Scottish institution. Against Falkirk, Hearts had seven British players in their first XI (and only two Lithuanians) and put in a performance of superb commitment, hunger, workrate and desire. And still lost.

"At least they showed some sort of spirit and that's what we need," said Stephen Frail, the assistant coach, clutching to any shred of optimism after five defeats in a row.
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Far from becoming the third force, or competing in the Champions League, or any of Vladimir Romanov's other wild claims, Hearts are now wakening up to the fact that relegation is not impossible.

"We were in the top six, a bit inconsistent, but now it feels like we've been hit by a train," Frail said. "The players need to realise it now, not in February or March: there's talk about too good to go down' - no chance. The players need to be up for the fight because the teams around us will be."

Berra, Lee Wallace, Andy Driver, Michael Stewart and Calum Elliot showed that hunger and fight, Elliot in fact going a bit overboard and having to be substituted in the second half before he got himself sent off.

Perhaps it's unfair, even a bit racist, to wonder if the various -iviciuses' and -iunases' care as much about their Ukio Bankas pay-cheques as they do for the fate of a 133-year-old piece of Scottish history and the thousands of people who live for it. Perhaps. But there was no doubt that Saturday's Hearts team realised where their priorities should be. Frail, and the supporters, must hope it continues.

But still no points. Hearts should have had the game won by half-time. Elliot, Stewart, Wallace and Kestutis Ivaskevicius all had excellent chances but Ruben Palazuelos' 28th-minute header was the only goal.

Former Hibs favourite Russell Latapy was brought on by John Hughes, and suddenly Falkirk started playing and Hearts stopped. The confidence and belief seemed to have evaporated. Carl Finnigan tapped in a Michael Higdon flick-on from a corner in the 78th minute and three minutes later Latapy's superb run was finished off by Higdon.

"They were just kicking it long and it got to the point where they were giving it back to us which gave us more confidence," said Finnigan. "I think it was a balance between their heads going down and us getting a lift from seeing that."

Thirty-nine years old, Latapy still possesses the gift to make time and space for himself and dictate the tempo of a football match. "He can pull anything out of the bag," said Finnigan. "Every time he comes on the pitch you know what your going to get from him. If you make a run you know you're going to get the ball put in front of you. And it gives you a lift, especially as a striker to know that, whatever you do, he's going to find you.

"He slows the game down, speeds it up to his own pace. He makes the passes, he can turn players and he even gets away from players at his age which is frightening."

Unbeaten since October, apart from against the Old Firm, morale could not be higher at Falkirk, by contrast to Hearts. On their worst run of form for almost nine years, hunger and passion alone will not be enough to get them out of their dire predicament. But at least it was a start.

Taken from the Herald