The lengthy wait to watch Heart of Midlothian lift the League Cup goes on. Due to their European involvement, few fans would have predicted before a ball was kicked this season that Steven Naismith’s side would go on to lift the Premier Sports Cup, but fewer still would have foreseen a humbling exit at the last-16 stage to Championship opposition.

John McGlynn’s Falkirk are a good side, make no mistake. There is a reason that the Bairns stormed to the League One title last season without losing a single match, and their swashbuckling style means they can be more than a match for top-flight opposition on their day. Saturday was very much Falkirk’s day.

It could have been so different, though. Hearts started the game strongly, regularly carving their opponents open and fashioning great opportunities in front of goal. They didn’t take them though, and they would be made to pay for their profligacy. After riding out that opening 20 minutes or so where it was one-way traffic in Hearts’ favour, the home side grew into the game. They tightened things up at the back and stemmed the flow of chances, shifted the momentum and started to exert some pressure of their own before going 2-0 up. The first goal was a well-executed counter-attack; the second was an outright farce at the back.

By the time the full-time whistle rang out at the Falkirk Stadium, supporters could agree on at least one thing: Falkirk were worthy winners. Much like the underwhelming display up at Dens Park the week before, Hearts were second best over the piece and few could begrudge the opposition their victory.

So, where did it all go wrong? How did the momentum shift in Falkirk’s favour, and why couldn’t Naismith’s men haul themselves back into the cup tie? Let’s take a look.

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Overloading the wings

Unlike the 3-1 defeat to Dundee, Hearts started well on Saturday and really should have been at least a goal up early on. Liam Boyce, Kenneth Vargas (twice) and Yutaro Oda were all presented with excellent opportunities, but none of the trio were able to capitalise on them.

Many of Hearts’ more promising passages of play had one thing in common: they started with the visitors gaining the numerical advantage out wide, then exploiting space in behind the Falkirk full-back.

Take a look at the example below. A Falkirk goal kick has been booted into midfield, and Oda has done well to win the second ball and play it back to Malachi Boateng. The midfielder holds it for a moment before returning it to the Japanese.

When Oda gets it back, Hearts get going. James Penrice and Yan Dhanda burst forward, and Oda slips it out to the latter before continuing his run forward.

The Dundee full-back goes out to close down Dhanda, who then slips in Oda.

Oda wins the footrace and cuts it back to Vargas with a nice pass – but the Costa Rican can’t beat Nicky Hogarth.

A minute passes and a similar situation unfolds once more, this time on the opposite side. Boateng has dropped deep while Hearts are building out from the back as Gerald Taylor drifts inside (more on that later). Oda drops to receive the pass, and Boateng duly obliges.

Sean Mackie has pushed right up, and so Blair Spittal darts into the space behind the Falkirk left-back. Taylor, meanwhile, continues his underlapping run further infield.

Spittal then tries to play Taylor in but the pass is a bit forced, and Ethan Ross does well to sweep up.

Hearts were regularly creating overloads out wide during the opening exchanges on Saturday and were getting rewarded with excellent chances to take the lead. Falkirk looked vulnerable out wide and would soon commit more men to keep those areas congested – but Hearts had a plan for that too.

Spittal’s killer passes

Hearts bossed possession early on against Falkirk and most of the game was played in the hosts’ half. When Naismith’s men had the ball, they would shift it from one side to the other, looking for the overload on the wings. If it wasn’t on, the ball would instead be worked to Spittal, who would then look to make the most of Oda’s pace with a defence-splitting through ball. There tended to be a gap between Mackie and the centre-half, and Oda did well to exploit it early on.

Here's a typical example within the first minute on Saturday. A Falkirk clearance is snuffed out by Taylor, and the full-back is drifting forward. Inside, Spittal calls for the ball.

Taylor tries to draw the winger towards him before playing it inside to Spittal. The Falkirk man reads it on this occasion and quickly closes down Spittal, but a neat first touch from the former Motherwell midfielder allows him to evade the press.

The through ball from Spittal catches out Mackie and Oda latches onto it in a dangerous area.

The cut-back is good – but Boyce drills it over.

A more glaring example would arrive on 17 minutes, and it’s one that Oda won’t be in a hurry to watch back. Taylor has the ball and again, Spittal is demanding it. And with good reason too – he’s completely unmarked.

Spittal gets the ball, turns, and has plenty of time to plot his next move. He sees Oda darting inside, and the ball through is inch-perfect.

Oda dallies and looks to be indecisive, though, and hits it straight at Hogarth.

Spittal was regularly splitting the defence early on, and he was helped by Falkirk sitting fairly deep and not pressing high up the park. The Bairns invited pressure and Hearts obliged them. But once McGlynn’s men started getting plenty of bodies wide and put more pressure on the ball, that all changed.

Congesting the wings

Once Falkirk got more men out wide, the chances started drying up for Hearts. Below is a typical example where Hearts have been moving the ball from side to side looking for an opening, but unable to find one. The ball has just been played to Stephen Kingsley from the left, and look how many navy blue jerseys are over there.

Kingsley plays it inside to Halkett, who in turn plays it to Spittal.

Oda makes his usual run but this time, Mackie is ready for it.

The Falkirk defender uses his body well, and the move comes to nothing.

Falkirk’s ability to press in numbers had another benefit: it often acted as a springboard to launch counter-attacks from. Take a look at the example below, where Hearts have been patiently circulating the ball. The entire team (apart from Craig Gordon) are in the Falkirk half when Halkett plays it to Kingsley.

Vargas has dropped deep, and Kingsley decides to play it to him – but look how many Falkirk players are nearby. A first-time pass back to Kingsley is Vargas’ only real option, but instead the attacker turns and runs into trouble.

Vargas is dispossessed, and Falkirk spring forward. Six players charge up the park and only Penrice, Kingsley, Halkett and Boateng are there to stop them.

Falkirk advance menacingly and try to slip the ball in behind, but Boateng is able to cut it out. It’s a let-off for Hearts – but it wouldn’t be heeded.

Falkirk push up

The home side pressed higher up the park during the second half, and the result was that Hearts struggled to maintain possession for lengthy periods. It became a bit more end-to-end and increasingly stretched, with both teams looking vulnerable in transition. Falkirk’s solution to cutting out counter-attacks was a series of tactical fouls whenever Hearts were breaking at pace, and the visitors struggled when building out from the back too.

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Take a look at the example below which illustrates the problem for Hearts. Boateng has the ball and Falkirk are pressing high, with three players all rushing towards the midfielder. Boateng only really has one option – play it to Halkett – and Falkirk know it.

Halkett gets the ball and the centre-half is in trouble. His best option is to hoof it and remove the danger, but instead he opts for the pass. It’s a poor choice, and the ball is easily intercepted.

Spittal goes charging in from behind and on this occasion, it’s Hearts who commit the tactical foul. Not only has Hearts’ move broken down; now Falkirk have a free-kick in their half too.

That might not seem like the most consequential of examples, but it was typical of the sort of build-up play that meant too many attacks were stopped before they could get going due to Falkirk’s high press. Take a look at another example just a few minutes later: Halkett has the ball and is drifting forward unopposed, but Falkirk’s forward players have cut off the short passing lanes.

Halkett eventually decides to try and find Oda out wide – but Mackie reads it, intercepts, and now Falkirk are on the attack.

Hearts were now struggling to get any meaningful spells of possession in the opposition half, and they were also conceding counter-attacks with alarming regularity. Eventually, they would be caught out – and Falkirk made them pay.

Full-backs exposed

Hearts’ full-backs, Penrice and Taylor, were urged to get forward to try and create those overloads out wide. Early on, they enjoyed some success. The two players worked in tandem; if one pushed high up on one flank, the other would drift infield and effectively take up a central midfield position. This allowed Hearts to win plenty of second balls, maintain their high line and dominate possession early on – but it also exposed a flaw within the system.

Hearts’ approach left them with very few players out wide when caught in transition, and Falkirk were not reluctant to take advantage. Take a look at the example below, just a few minutes into the first half, that demonstrates the problem rather aptly. Ross cuts out a slack pass as Hearts are building out, which happens, but there is no contingency plan in place. Just look at how much space there is over on the opposite flank.

Ross drifts forward and eventually slips it into the feet of Ross MacIver. Right-back Calvin Miller continues to gallop forward into the open space with Penrice in pursuit.

MacIver’s pass is slightly over-hit and Miller can’t get the ball under control until he’s reached the corner flag, giving Penrice time to get back. But it’s a let-off for Hearts – had MacIver’s pass been a little better, the visitors would have found themselves carved open.

Falkirk had fashioned a few decent opportunities on the counter during the first half but they would strike a decisive blow not long into the second. Boyce cheaply surrendered possession in the centre circle and Falkirk start again. Taylor has pushed right up and out of shot, Penrice has taken up a central position when the ball is played forward.

Penrice and Spittal move to put pressure on the ball as it’s played backwards, and the trap is set. There’s absolutely no one guarding Hearts’ left wing when right-back Keelan Adams bursts forward to occupy the vacant space.

It’s essentially man-for-man at the back as Adams reaches the edge of the box.

One bit of clever movement is all it takes for Ross to create some space – and the Falkirk man makes no mistake when the ball is cut back to him.

Falkirk wouldn’t make it 2-0 until the 81st minute when Hearts gifted the Bairns their second through frankly ludicrous circumstances, at which point there was no way back. But perhaps more concerning was the fact that despite chucking on the likes of Lawrence Shankland, Alan Forrest and Barrie McKay, very little changed. Hearts still struggled to maintain possession, they still struggled to fashion chances, and they still struggled to deal with Falkirk’s counter-attacks. Naismith may have won the opening skirmishes with his set-up, but it was McGlynn who won the war by tinkering with his team throughout – and Hearts paid the price.