Hearts boss Jim Jefferies was a happy man last night after seeing his side score three goals for the first time since last May.

The men in maroon produced a much improved performance to defeat Falkirk 3-2, but happy as he was, the Tynecastle manager refused to get carried away with it.

Lee Wallace, Suso Santana and Ian Black were the heroes in the end, netting to deny Steven Pressley a share of the spoils on his first day as Falkirk head coach.

"They tell me it is the first time we have scored three goals for a long time," Jim smiled. "You can see we are trying to get the message to get the ball down and to try and pass it.

"It is not easy to ask them to do that in the time we've been with them, but when you start doing that it helps.

"At 3-1 I thought we played a great spell when maybe it could have gone 4-1, but tired legs with the young boys who have not played for a while had an effect.

"The big thing which pleased me was that when it went to 3-2 they chased and worked together and competed with Falkirk piling in.

"We dealt with it, backtracked, chased things down and cleared it. There was a wee bit of a togetherness."

Jim waxed lyrical about a number of performances, not least Ryan Stevenson's home debut, an apparently revitalised David Obua who impressed alongside Gary Glen, another who is beginning to twinkle once more.

And skipper Marius Zaliukas - standing in for suspended Michael Stewart - was Jim's top man on the day ("probably our best player").

For Ian Black, he was delighted to see the sort of commanding form that enticed Hearts to secure his services in the first place.

"The big plus is that Ian Black was playing like he played at Inverness," said Jim.

"I think he has been disappointed since he came here, but that is maybe because he was asked to play a certain position that does not suit him.

"Today and the other night was more like why he was brought here. Hopefully we can encourage him to go and play like he did at Inverness with a bit of freedom."

On Hearts.TV today - Listen to post-match reaction from Jim Jefferies and Ian Black and later catch the highlights from the win over Falkirk