Hearts suffered a first defeat in ten matches on Tuesday night after losing 2-1 to Falkirk.
In a game the Jambos never really got going, Ben Krauhaus’ opener was cancelled out by James Wilson, only for the home side to bag the winner through Owen Eames in the second-half.
Head coach Wouter Vrancken made six changes from the side that dumped Stenhousemuir out of the Premier Sports Cup last Friday. Wilson, Calvin Miller, Claudio Braga, Josh McPake, Jordi Altena and Yan Dhanda all came into the starting line-up, with Christian Borchgrevink, JJ Williams, Sabri Guendouz, Sabah Kerjota and Rogers Mato moving to the bench while Tomas Magnusson missed out through injury.
It took eight minutes for the deadlock to be broken and it was courtesy of the hosts. Ryan Strain evaded the offside trap to get onto a long ball down the right, darting into the box before cutting back to Krauhaus, who fired into the net.
By the 22nd minute it was 1-1. Harry Milne picked out McPake inside the box, he showed his marker a clean pair of heels to get to the byline and cross for Wilson to sweep home.
It should’ve been 2-1 to the Jambos moments later. McPake again got down the left and again picked out Wilson inside the box but he could only send his first-time effort high and over the bar.
Altena stung the palms of Scott Bain with a shot from outside the box late in the first half, but neither side could gain a further advantage in a close opening period.
Beau Reus came to the Jambos’ rescue only minutes into the restart when Falkirk worked their way across the Hearts box, with Jacob Murrell teeing up Finley Barbrook, but his close-range effort was stopped by the Dutchman’s legs.
Hearts passed up another golden opportunity to take the lead soon after. Dhanda got away from his man to send a ball across the six-yard box for substitute Williams to meet but his shot was beaten away by Bain.
Miller then tried his luck from distance, forcing Bain to punch his swerving effort clear, before Milne hit a follow up way over the target.
Reus was called into action at the other end, standing tall to block Murrell’s prod goalwards after the Falkirk man had got on to the end of a hooked ball over the top.
The Jambos shot themselves in the foot on 68 minutes, when a misplaced pass in defence saw Eames latch on to the ball before driving into the box and arrowing a lot shot into the bottom corner of the net to once again give Falkirk the lead.
There was to be no way back into the game for the Jam Tarts, with Ethan Ross hitting the post for Falkirk in the 90th minute, in what proved to be a disappointing evening for the Gorgie boys.
Falkirk: Bain, McMann, Henderson, Spencer, Neilson, Barbrook (Sibbald, 78’), Strain, Ross, Murrell (MacIver, 78’), Krauhaus (Fodrey, 57’), Eames (Melniks, 86’).
Subs: Hogarth, McMillan, Parkinson, Tanser, Doherty.
Hearts: Reus, McCart, Miller (Kerjota, 73’), Braga, McPake (Mato, 73’), Findlay (Borchgrevink, 80’), Milne (Kingsley, 73’), Wilson (Williams, 45’), Altena, Dhanda, Mendy.
Subs: Fulton, Kabore, Guendouz, Ba-Sy.
