Copyright scotsman
Falkirk manager John McGlynn senses the belief that a Premiership title race is developing after watching his team lose 3-0 at Hearts. Goals from Alexandros Kyziridis, Lawrence Shankland and Craig Halkett put the Edinburgh club two points clear at the top of the Premiership after Celtic drew 0-0 with Hibs. McGlynn was an assistant coach at Hearts during the Vladimir Romanov era when second place, Scottish Cup wins and a Champions League berth were secured. The 2005/06 campaign is particularly fondly remembered in Gorgie as Hearts finished second with Rangers third. Although disappointed by his current team’s defeat this afternoon, McGlynn said the hype surrounding Hearts is justified even though the league campaign is just six games old. “Yeah, I think so. Having been part of the Romanov thing many years ago, it seems to have a similar momentum right now,” he said. “With a faltering, if you want, Rangers and Celtic maybe not doing quite so well. Celtic normally take care of Hibs at Celtic Park and today you can see there's a draw and points dropped there. Yeah, I think there is a belief that there's a title race on, although it's very early. “There's no disgrace coming here and getting beat 3-0 under the circumstances that Hearts are flying. We'll not be the first or the last. We have to learn and we have to dust ourselves down. Then we move on and we get ready for the Rangers game next Sunday.” McGlynn’s Hearts counterpart, Derek McInnes, was delighted with the outcome. Kyziridis scored a stunning 25-yard effort and Shankland also scored from distance before Halkett headed the third. “Yeah, very pleased, “ commented McInnes. “Obviously, the quality of the first two goals was outstanding, but I thought it was such a dominant first-half performance. I thought we deservedly got two goals up. I thought we passed up some good opportunities to maybe put the game to bed before half-time. “We spoke at half-time about trying to go and get the next goal. I watched Falkirk against Hibs the other night. They get a goal back, they never give up, they've got a brilliant spirit about them. We did want to give them any encouragement and we spoke about trying to get the next goal as quickly as possible. I thought we came out of the start of the second half really strong as well. It’s a great header from Halkett. Then we took the luxury of making changes and trying to keep the people in mind to try and get some minutes on the pitch and look after one or two - like McEntee, who's been struggling with a foot injury. “Sometimes that disruption can affect a team, but I thought we were good. We still had good chances in the second half, albeit I thought Falkirk kept going. When you don't put that pressure on Falkirk, and at times we never quite got the press the last 15 minutes or so, they can work their way up the pitch. I thought we were worthy winners. I thought it was a really strong performance. I got a lot from the game that I was hoping for in terms of how we built the game. We switched the play and passed forward. We ran forward, bodies in the box, crosses. More like a hearts performance that I was hoping for when we first came in. “It's a good indication for us that we can do that and hopefully improve as we go along. I thought we dealt with Falkirk obviously expecting us to come after them. Falkirk playing a lot of longer balls up to strikers. I thought we dealt with that really strongly, man for man. I thought we were busy enough and good enough to pick up the second ball. We dealt with that immediate threat and obviously a couple of times in the second half when Calvin Miller used his pace to get in on that side. When you put a high press on, when you get after teams, at times there is a wee bit of risk and a reward. A really top class performance from my point of view. I thought we had some good individual performances within that and it's good to get a win and a clean sheet.” McInnes acclaimed Kyziridis’ confidence after he beat two opponents to fire the opening goal into the top corner. He also looked ahead to next week’s Edinburgh derby against Hibs. “It's an unbelievable strike,” exclaimed the manager. “He scored one against Ross County in a closed-door game. I've been telling people about it and he was actually closer to the goal than that one. This one is a bit further out and he's a bit more central as well which makes it a bit more difficult to create that angle. It had to be to beat Scott Bain. “I thought Scott Bain was really good for Falkirk. I thought he made some brilliant saves and it had to be exactly where it went, in the top corner. What a brilliant moment for Kizzy. We see that from him. The good thing is, from our point of view, he actually expects to score when he comes into that area. He's got so much confidence and self-belief which is really refreshing to see from a player. I thought he was good today. I thought he carried the fight for us. I thought he got them on their back foot but his goal was magnificent.” “I got asked the other day if our feet were on the ground. Absolutely. We're six games into the season, it's miles to go, but we're given every day a bit of encouragement. Players are giving me encouragement for what we see every day. We just look forward to the next one. The next one is always one that everybody looks forward to anyway. The fact we go into it in a good place. Players are in a good place with their performance. There's good confidence. Hopefully all that helps when the game starts next week.” For Hearts, nothing changes despite their position at the top of the table. “I don't think so,” said McInnes. “As I said before, you'll get a lot of people hoping that somebody can go in and do something. But the majority of people out there, they want us to get beat. I'm alright with that. They want Hearts put in their place. Everybody who's used to doing certain things and winning games. Nobody, I don't think, genuinely believes we can mount a challenge. “For us, it's all about just dealing with the games. Nobody for us, on the playing side of it, from the staff, is saying we're going to do this and do that. Neither we should. We've not earned the right to do that. We've earned the right to feel good about ourselves through working hard. As I say, I think we're given every day a bit of encouragement. Long may that continue. Football is tough. It's not easy getting into this place. For players to be playing as well, to be as confident, to get the place as vibrant as that, it takes a lot of hard work to get to where we're at. We want to try and maintain it and it's going to take more hard work to keep it going. “I think it gives me a boost when I see the fact we've won another game, we've got a clean sheet and we've come through the game unscathed. It's just nice to win a game. I want us to try and stay up at the top end of the table, those top positions, for as long as we can. Of course we do, but who wouldn't? I've said this before, once we're round the first two rounds of fixtures, I think that's when managers, supporters, players can normally get a sense of where they're at. We just need to hope that once those two rounds of fixtures are complete, we're in somewhere we would want to be.” Hearts have no recorded two successive clean sheets after beating Rangers 2-0 and Falkirk 3-0. Recently-signed goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow played in both games and has yet to concede for the Tynecastle side. “I think it's good for confidence. There's nothing worse for confidence than losing cheap goals. Cheap goals just demoralise you. There's loads of scrutinising that, why you lose goals. I'm conscious that when we play with two strikers and two wingers effectively, and we press high and we get after teams, then there is a trade-off with that sometimes. Sometimes you give up space, sometimes you give up opportunities for the opposition. “We can sit in a low block the whole game and hope and be a bit more [secure]. It looks a bit more likely that you're going to get a clean sheet by playing that way, but I can't watch Hearts play like that. I want us to be strikers, wingers, play forward, press high, press hard, be aggressive. With that, sometimes comes losing goals.The clean sheets are important, but it's more important when we're scoring goals and winning.” READ MORE: Hearts 3-0 Falkirk report and player ratings
