Hearts 1 Falkirk 1
(After extra-time, Falkirk win 5-4 on penalties)
Tactical switches that turn games on their head, players plucked from obscurity that prove themselves capable of mixing it in the top flight and the whole thing coming together to form a team showing they can be a match for anyone.
Is there anything John McGlynn cannot do at Falkirk? More to the point, might the remarkable job the 64-year-old is doing at the Bairns start attracting the attention of bigger fish despite his advancing years?
Showing you can punch above your weight is a hugely attractive quality in any head coach and McGlynn is doing that, all right.
When he took over at Falkirk in 2022, they were at rock-bottom, stuck in League One and still trying to get over their plummet down the divisions amid a raft of bad decisions, bad management and one infamous Q&A session between board and fans that ended up going viral on the internet.
Compare then to now. McGlynn has not only returned the club to the Premiership with back-to-back promotions, but they are sitting proudly in the top six and have just dumped league leaders Hearts out of the Scottish Cup on their own patch. Deservedly so, too, by the way.
Rangers have been unable to beat them over a couple of meetings this term and anyone who watched last week’s loss at home to Celtic will tell you that Martin O’Neill’s side were extremely lucky to get out of town alive.
Falkirk boss John McGlynn celebrates with Brad Spencer after penalty shootout victory
What a moment for Ben Parkinson after he scored winning penalty for Bairns at Tynecastle
Parkinson, third from left, had already scored the opener for Falkirk in a pulsating cup tie with Hearts
There really is something building there — with CEO Jamie Swinney deserving credit for the sterling work he’s done down the years too — and that was evident by the sizeable away crowd that travelled to Gorgie on Saturday night and celebrated so vigorously behind the goalmouth in which a momentous penalty shoot-out win played out.
Falkirk are a club that has always held a strong following. They should have big ambitions with that kind of fanbase. It is a disgrace that they were allowed to slide out of sight for such a long period of time and it is good to see them back where they belong.
In McGlynn, they certainly have a bloke worthy of leading them into battle and they got everything they deserved at the weekend. Yes, they didn’t really turn up in the first half against a Hearts side that never really clicked into gear either.
McGlynn tweaked a few things without any major response and then just went for it at the interval. New signings Ben Parkinson and Louie Marsh were thrown on along with Kyrell Wilson for Barney Stewart, Finn Yeats and Henry Cartwright and the commitment to getting on the front foot was clear.
Yes, they had to get over the tumult of seeing Hearts midfielder Tomas Magnusson put the ball in their net before being penalised for a handball picked up by VAR Andrew Dallas, but it didn’t knock them out of their stride.
They took the lead through Parkinson just before the hour and still managed to rally again after Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland had levelled from the penalty spot four minutes from the end of regulation time after full-back Leon McCann had blundered by going to ground too easily and upending home debutant Islam Chesnokov.
In extra-time, they had the best chances. Alexander Schwolow in the home goal had to make two cracking saves from Calvin Miller and Marsh. For all home manager Derek Mcinnes’ unhappiness over Magnusson’s goal being chalked off, his side didn’t do enough to get this one over the line. Didn’t show enough.
With injuries and suspensions now beginning to bite hard, they need their matchwinners such as Alexandros Kyziridis and Claudio Braga to really start rediscovering their mojo on a consistent basis. Both were a shadow of themselves in this clash.
Lawrence Shankland equalised late on for Hearts but their day was to end in misery
It’s agony for Hearts player Elton Kabangu after his missed penalty in shootout
The Hearts players can hardly bear to watch on night they crashed out of Scottish Cup
Truth be told, it was former Newcastle forward Parkinson who stood out. He’s had his injury problems over the past year or so. He hasn’t really had any significant experience of men’s football. Don’t think for a minute, though, that it has had any effect on his confidence.
Despite having missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0 during the 90 minutes, when slashing the ball high and wide after being sent clean through, he made it absolutely clear to McGlynn when the match went to penalties that he wanted to take the final kick.
And good on him. Some may write that off as the confidence of youth and they might well have a point, but that’s exactly the kind of attitude you need if you want to go anywhere in the senior game.
Watching Parkinson’s progress in the weeks and months to come will be interesting. The deal to get him north involved calling in favours from some old faces familiar to Falkirk — namely ex-player Jack Ross, now Newcastle’s head of strategy, and the Magpies’ sporting director Ross Wilson, who worked his way up the ranks at the Bairns back in the day — and he certainly looks like he has the qualities to make a hugely positive impression.
McGlynn had been tracking him for quite some time before getting the transfer over the line — having initially failed in an attempt to sign him during the summer — and his eye for a player is already well established.
His Falkirk team is full of guys who have either come from nowhere or dropped down from bigger clubs to prove themselves. They obviously buy into the message he’s selling as well.
The celebrations begin for Falkirk’s players after a wonderful day for them in the capital
McGlynn has a beaming smile as he celebrates a deserved victory with Brad Spencer
The Bairns fully deserved their win after a determined performance against Premiership leaders
There are going to be plenty of contenders for Manager of the Year this season. McInnes has Hearts chasing their first title since 1960. Jens Berthel Askou has implemented a whole new style at Motherwell, lit a fire under the club and delivered results. Danny Rohl looks like he is turning round the tanker at Rangers.
If O’Neill can help Celtic successfully defend their title amid the utter chaos unfolding at that club, he’ll be up there too.
Right now, though, McGlynn would have to be in the mix as well. He’s doing brilliantly. As Tynecastle proved in technicolour.
Hearts (4-3-3): Schwolow 7; Altena 6 (Chesnokov 78), Kent 6, Halkett 6 (Findlay 69), McCart 5 (Spittal 58); Magnusson 6 (Forrester 106), Baningime 6, Milne 6; Kyziridis 6, Shankland 6 (Kabangu 96), Braga 6 (Kabore 69). Booked: Halkett. Manager: Derek McInnes 5.
Falkirk (4-2-3-1): Bain 7; Lissah 7 (Adams 87), Allan 7, Henderson 7, McCann 7; Spencer 7, Cartwright 7 (Marsh 46); Yeats 7 (Parkinson 46), Tait 7, Miller 8 (Ross 97); Stewart 6 (Wilson 46 (Graham 120)). Booked: Miller. Manager: John McGlynn 8.
Referee: Nick Walsh.
Attendance: 17,109.
