Heart of Midlothian defender Stephen Kingsley admitted "there's an issue" the team need to sort out.

The centre-back was part of the team that were humbled by his former club Falkirk at the weekend in the Premier Sports Cup.

Despite creating a glut of chances in the first half, Hearts walked away from the Falkirk Stadium having lost 2-0 and knocked out of the League Cup.

“Frustration considering how many chances we created in the first half," he said. "We could have easily been 4-0 up. Craig Gordon's obviously pulled off a great save in the first half as well, but we should have been out of sight really.

“And that's the frustrating thing. Going into the second half, the performance in the second half, conceding that goal and then huffing and puffing but not really coming to anything. 

“We had a threat in the first half, we did create chances, good chances, chances we should be putting away but we didn't have enough of that in the second half.

“When you concede the goals like that, you're wide open and you're giving yourself a mountain to climb. So it's very emotional just now, frustrating and we need to dust ourselves off and prepare now for the European game."

What was said amongst the squad in the changing room at full-time was kept between those four walls but Kingsley did accept that there are things that need to be sorted out ahead of a run of four games in 11 days.

One of the more confounding aspects is the change in mood following the last two games after what was seen as an encouraging summer transfer window and pre-season.

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“It's definitely not the way we were planning on things going," he said. "It was a very positive atmosphere that we had. We've added to the squad well but we need to knuckle down now and find the solutions that we're looking for because Saturday could have gone very different in the first half if we took some of the chances but we didn't. 

“There's definitely things that we need to sort out and quick because we've got a busy schedule coming up. It's a vital time of the season and we need to get that out of the way."

He added: "As team to make sure that we put the things right that aren't clicking just now. I think it's just so raw just now, just after this game but you're looking at last week as well and there's an issue that we need to get sorted out. 

“As I said, we'll look at it and we'll move on to Thursday because not only is it a massive game but it's a massive run in the games we've got until the end of the month now so there's a lot of things we'll need to turn."