Hearts swept Falkirk aside 3-0 at Tynecastle Park this afternoon, as the Jambos made it two wins on the spin in the William Hill Premiership.
In the Jambos' first match on home soil in five weeks, Alexandros Kyziridis set the tone for the afternoon with a sensational strike from distance after 22 minutes.
Lawrence Shankland netted another sublime effort just before half-time, becoming the SPFL era's all time goalscorer in the process, before Craig Halkett's early second half header wrapped up a deserved three points for the Jambos.
Sticking to the old adage of "if it ain't broke", Derek McInnes made no changes to the starting line up, sticking with the eleven that brought an overdue three points at Ibrox in our last outing.
The Jambos were on the front foot from the off, and went close after seven minutes after Alexandros Kyziridis clipped an inviting ball into the area with Craig Halkett nodding his header wide.
Stuart Findlay was next to test Scott Bain in the Bairns net after 17 minutes; letting a vicious snapshot rip from 30-yards that forced the 'keeper into tipping around the post. From the resulting corner, Claudio Braga's header was held by Bain.
The opener was coming, and it arrived in the most spectacular fashion after 22 minutes.
Kyziridis, making a nuisance of himself on the left side, effortlessly danced away from his marker before cutting inside. Advancing to just before the edge of the box, he smashed a sensational dipping effort at goal.
Scott Bain was at full stretch, but it was no good, and it bustled into the back of the net - a screamer in every sense of the word.
The Greek winger was at the heart of events again just a few minutes later, combining with Claudio Braga to tee the Portuguese forward up for a shot at goal inside the box - but his hastily taken effort sailed over the bar.
Falkirk weren't without their moments and went close on the half-hour mark after a splitting ball forward found the wide man before being squared into the box, with a heroic block from Stuart Findlay forcing the ball behind and away from danger.
With five minutes to go before the break, the Jambos went agonisingly close again to a second, but were thwarted by some excellent goalkeeping from Scott Bain.
Harry Milne's cross picked out Kyziridis at the near post with laser accuracy. The Greek stabbed home, but Bain somehow threw himself across his line to get a hand to it and guide it away from goal.
It mattered little though, as Hearts recorded their second after 42 minutes.
Winning the ball midway inside the Falkirk half, Lawrence Shankland led the charge forward and drilled a low effort home from 25-yards - a strike that confirmed his status as the SPFL's all-time record goalscorer, overtaking Rory McAllister's haul of 162.
HT: Heart of Midlothian 2-0 Falkirk
Hearts showed no signs of slowing down as the second half begun, registering their first attempt just two minutes in as Kyziridis threaded the ball across the area to Shankland, with his low effort palmed away by Scott Bain.
From the resulting corner, Hearts got their third of the afternoon, with Kyziridis' delivery met by Craig Halkett, with his acrobatic header smashing into the back of the net beyond the reach of Bain.
The boys in maroon were in cruise control, and almost grabbed a quickfire fourth minutes later when Stephen Kingsley's cross picked out Braga, but his powerful attempt was deflected behind.
Scott Bain remained the busiest man in Gorgie, and made another fine save after 68 minutes to deny Claudio Braga from close range after Shankland had threaded him through on goal via Alexander Schwolow's goal kick.
With just ten minutes to go, and a quiet game up to then, Schwolow was called into a rare bit of action as he first palmed Alfredo Agyeman's cross away from danger before beating away a Dylan Tait attempt from just outside the box.
There was little else to report from the closing exchanges, and Hearts now look forward to the small matter of next week's Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle Park...
Hearts: Schwolow, Kingsley (Magnusson 89'), Halkett, Baningime, Shankland (Kerjota 89'), Braga (Kabangu 80'), Devlin, Milne, Findlay, McEntee (Steinwender 73'), Kyziridis (Forrest 73')
Subs: Clark, McCart, Kabangu, Steinwender, Spittal, Forrest, Wilson, Magnusson, Kerjota
Falkirk: Bain, Adams, McCann, Henderson, Spencer, MacIver (Samuel-Ogunsuyi 70'), Cartwright (Arfield 45'), Tait, Williams (Oliver 45'), Lissah (Hart 70'), Miller (Agyeman 78')
Subs: Hogarth, Lang, Graham, Agyeman, Oliver, Allan, Arfield, Hart, Samuel-Ogunsuyi
Attendance: 18,919
Match Sponsor's Man of the Match: Alexandros Kyziridis
