Frustrated Steven Naismith outlines what killed Hearts and why rotation may be over after Falkirk shock

The Jambos lost 2-0 to the Bairns at a packed Falkirk Stadium, with the Championship outfit progressing to the last eight of the competition. Hearts were booed by their travelling support and the manner of the defeat against lesser-ranked opposition grated with the Tynecastle boss, who wasted four gilt-edged chances in the first half through Liam Boyce, Kenneth Vargas, Yutaro Oda and Blair Spittal before Falkirk took control of the match in the second half.

“I’m disappointed, we’re out of the cup,” said Naismith. “You have four great chances in the first half and you don't take them. And we spoke about when we are being aggressive in possession, you've got to watch that counter because that's a big thing for any team you come up against. That's what leads to the first goal. And at the second goal we kill ourselves again, which effectively takes the tie away from us.

 “I’m really frustrated because the way we started the game, we had good chances. But you’ve got to take them. If you don't take them, you leave yourself vulnerable to what Falkirk do. And that's exactly what happened today.”

Naismith made eight changes to his team for this match ahead of Thursday’s European tie against Viktoria Plzen and he hinted that he will need to find a more settled starting XI. “It just clears it up that we can't rotate as much,” Naismith continued. “We've given everybody a chance in the squad to make a mark on the team and say, I'm playing every week. The last two performances haven't given us that. It probably clears that aspect up. But we need to make sure we just have an 11 out there that now gets through the games. There's a tight schedule that we're going into. We'll just need to put on a team on the pitch that we think is going to win us the game.”

Naismith also addressed the jeers from the away end. “The fans are going to be disappointed when you’re not winning a cup tie where you’re favourites to go through,” he added.

His Falkirk counterpart John McGlynn was in a far happier place, and was delighted his team rode out an early storm and then netted through Ethan Ross and Dylan Tait. “The boys were absolutely magnificent,” McGlynn said. “They just turn out performance after performance so I'm delighted with them. They've got to take all of the praise, they are out there doing the business.

“Once we settled down, we gained belief in the game and we caused them problems. The guys have belief in themselves. You don't go on a run like we are on if you don't have belief. We don't go shouting about it that much but within that dressingroom, we are a tight bunch.”