Falkirk 0 - 1 Hearts: Hearts show their mettle

Published Date: 27 December 2009
By Alan Pattullo at Falkirk Stadium
HEARTS displayed their mettle on a freezing afternoon in Falkirk to record an away victory that hints at better things to come in 2010.
Csaba Laszlo's side had another expertly-taken penalty from Michael Stewart to thank for the win, but held out well as the home side enjoyed the better of both halves.

For Falkirk, after the high of last weekend's win over Kilmarnock, it was a return to their bad old ways. Despite enjoying the bulk of possession, the hosts could not find the end product. By contrast, Stewart sunk Hearts' only real chance to score, following Darren Barr's trip on Jose Goncalves at the end of the first-half. The victory, combined with Aberdeen's inactivity yesterday, sees Hearts assume a place in the top six for the first time this season.

Falkirk, however, are now two points adrift at the bottom. The performance left Eddie May disgusted. "We were terrible all day," said the home manager, who was aghast at the penalty award, commenting on how easily Goncalves had gone down in comparison to the tough challengesmeted out by both him and his centre-half partner Marius Zaliukas at the other end."Hegot tickled and went down," complained May.

Opposite number Laszlo praised his side's professionalism. "It showed it was no accident against Celtic," he said.

Both sides were eager to build on significant results from the previous weekend, and Falkirk fielded an unchanged team. Their efforts in the early stages suggested they were keen to warm up as quickly as possible. They ran at the opposition in waves. Falkirk created a
number of chances before Hearts, who defeated Celtic seven days ago, had made even one. With Zaliukas making his first start since September, the Hearts backline took time to re-adjust. Falkirk looked to capitalise on the uncertainty, and should have done so.

They had already tested Marian Kello on a couple of occasions when Toufik Zerrara played a pass through to Ryan Flynn, for whom a road to goal had suddenly opened up. But he was still a long way from the edge of the box. By the time he had got near enough to consider shooting, the striker had perhaps been unnerved by the sound of panting Hearts defenders, who were now in hot pursuit. His strike was hit cleanly enough, but lacked the direction to trouble Kello.

In the below-freezing conditions an underwhelming spectacle was perhaps to be expected.That thematch was on at all seemed a minorChristmas miracle in the circumstances, with fans having been recruited by Falkirk to help clear the car park and stands of snow yesterday morning. Great mounds of snow still skirted the pitch at kick-off time,but it was a tribute to the efforts of locals thatagametookplacehereat all.At half time, however, these good Samaritans might have wished they had simply stayed in bed. Despite having had all the play, Falkirk found themselves going in at the interval a goal down.

Goncalves was the perhaps surprising source of the visitors' strike. The centre half found himself advancing down the lefthandside of thebox, but his progress was halted by a clip of the heels from Barr. The Falkirk fans sounded aggrieved at the award, but it looked an obvious one. Stewart planted the ball on the spot, and then tucked away the kind of penalty referred to as textbook: low into the bottom left hand corner.

His celebrations were muted to say the least as he returned to his own half, helped along by backslaps from his teammates.

Perhaps even the Hearts skipper knew that his side's performance had not deserved the adornment of a goal, but it was gladly enough received by the away fans. The Falkirk supporters displayed their dissatisfaction with referee Calum Murray's decision when the half-time whistle blew, four minutes later.

The second-half initially followed the same pattern as the first. Falkirk attacked, and Hearts hung on. But the home side found it just as difficult to carve out a clear goal-scoring opportunity as had been the case before the interval.

The Hearts rearguard coped well with what Falkirk had to throw at them.

Lee Bullen's arrival after65minutes, as a replacement for Flynn, was evidence of the hosts' need to change things. Bullen, at least, would providesomepresence in the forward area.

The Hearts supporters seemed to sense a certain desperation in the air,
and taunted the home fans with chants of "goingdown". But Bullen almost made an immediate contribution. Pedro Moutinho crossed from the left towards the veteran, who had taken up position at the back post. Only LeeWallace's flick behind prevented what would surely have been a certain equaliser. But Hearts, too, began to look more lively in front of goal, with Suso Santana, who replaced David Templeton, providing some menace down the right. It was Falkirk, though, who pressed most desperately.

Substitute Danijel Marceta saw a shot tipped round the post by Kello while some strangled appeals for a penalty were heard as Vitor Lima went down in the box during five minutes of added time. But Falkirk had only themselves to blame in the end.

Taken from the Scotsman