Hearts 3 - 2 Falkirk

Published Date: 13 February 2010
By BARRY ANDERSON
HEARTS spoiled the managerial debut of their former captain Steven Pressley by scoring three times in a match for the first time this season, ensuring a victorious return to Tynecastle for manager Jim Jefferies.

Goals from Lee Wallace, Suso and Ian Black consigned Pressley to defeat 48 hours after he replaced Eddie May. It also brought Jefferies his first victory since returning to Hearts last month, with the added bonus of three scorers to boot.

Wallace opened the scoring after five minutes but Falkirk equalised through Dawid Kucharski's own goal in first-half injury-time. Despite the visitors' impressive opening to the second half, goals from Suso and Black afforded Hearts a 3-1 advantage until substitute Pedro Moutinho reduced the deficit with seven minutes remaining. That gave the visitors hope for the final moments but Jefferies' side held their nerve to secure a win which propels them back into the SPL's top six.

Jefferies made three alterations following Wednesday night's defeat at Celtic Park, reinstating Suso, Arvydas Novikovas and Gary Glen. Michael Stewart was suspended and Christian Nade was excluded completely as the manager demonstrated his dissatisfaction with the Frenchman's performance in Glasgow, not to mention his post-match dressing-room punch at midfielder Black. With no new contract signed, Jose Goncalves was also missing, however Pressley's first Falkirk team included Hearts-bound captain Darren Barr.

After five minutes Hearts moved ahead when Wallace's attempted cross became a powerful and swerving shot which Robert Olejnik could not stop. The deceived goalkeeper expected a delivery into the penalty area, as did most inside Tynecastle, but the ball appeared to bobble as the full-back struck it 30 yards out on the left flank and sailed high into the net. For Falkirk, it was an example of the misfortune which often afflicts clubs propping up a league.

Calmed by the opener, Hearts settled into a rhythm of high-tempo passing and began dominating. David Obua's header from Novikovas' cross was disallowed on 22 minutes. The Ugandan was seeing a good deal of the ball as the principal aerial threat alongside Gary Glen in attack, where he looked useful.

Falkirk seldom threatened in the final third until their equaliser in first-half stoppage time. A right-sided cross landed at the feet of full-back Marc Twaddle near the left corner of the Hearts penalty box and he drove the ball first time across goal. Kucharski became the wrong man in the wrong place as Twaddle's cross ricocheted off his foot and beyond Marian Kello.

Doubtless buoyed by restoring parity against the run of play, the visitors emerged from the interval with confidence and began a period of concerted pressure for the first time. A flowing attacking move on 55 minutes brought them within centimetres of a second goal. Scott Arfield supplied substitute Enoch Showunmi with the ball, he sprinted effortly past Kucharski to cross for Ryan Flynn, who scooped his finish narrowly over the crossbar. Minutes later, Burton O'Brien dispatched a 25-yard free-kick marginally wide of Kello's left post.

Just as Pressley might have sensed his charges were assuming control, Hearts' advantage was restored through Suso. Novikovas' high cross was the left was palmed down by Olejnik under pressure to the diminutive Spaniard, who switched the ball from right foot to left and executed a driven finish.

The game was finished as a contest when Black struck an emphatic third for the hosts. He dispossessed Arfield 35 yards from goal and strode forward to unleash a proverbial piledriver with his supposed weaker right foot. As the ball roared into the net off the underside of the crossbar, the midfielder was off for a bout of shadow boxing to celebrate. He would certainly have been aware of the irony after his midweek altercation with Nade.

Calum Elliot climbed off the substitutes' bench to make his first appearance since November with Jefferies probably expecting his players to close out their win with the minimum of fuss. Falkirk had other ideas and reduced the deficit seven minutes from the interval. Flynn and Carl Finnigan conducted a one-two and Flynn supplied Moutinho for a fine finish high beyond Kello just inside the penalty area.

That added an extra edge to the final few minutes, but Hearts' prevailed to secure their first win of Jefferies' second tenure.

Hearts (4-4-2): Kello; Jonsson, Kucharski, Zaliukas, Wallace; Suso, Black, Stevenson, Novikovas; Glen, Obua. Subs: Balogh, Witteveen, Elliot 78 (for Suso), Wallace, Mulrooney 86 (for Black), Balatoni, Smith 89 (for Novikovas).

Falkirk (4-4-1-1): Olejnik; Barr, McLean, Scobbie, Twaddle; Flynn, Arfield, O'Brien, Compton; Healy; Finnigan. Subs: Wagenaar, Duffie, Stewart, Showunmi 46 (for Compton), Moutinho 69 (for Healy), Lynch, Murdoch.

Referee: Dougie McDonald.

Attendance: 14,078.

Taken from the Scotsman