In a thrilling Scottish Cup encounter, Falkirk's relentless pursuit of victory sent Hearts spinning out of the competition. With Derek McInnes facing an injury nightmare, the title-chasing Jambos' dreams of a Double were shattered at Tynecastle. As the Bairns booked their place in the next round, it was Ben Parkinson who started and finished the game, heaping misery onto an already shattered Hearts. Derek McInnes’ Premiership title chasers had their dreams of double glory torn away when Elton Kabangu missed a dramatic spot-kick finale. And, if that wasn’t painful enough for Hearts, seeing skipper Lawrence Shankland hobble off in extra-time in a potentially devastating blow just doubled the agony. The skipper had levelled Parkinson’s strike late in normal time from the spot and his loss poured salt into the wounds of a cup exit. With key man Cammy Devlin already sidelined and Beni Baningime hobbling at the finish, an injury to Shankland would be another brutal setback approaching the title run-in and next weekend’s clash with Celtic. John McGlynn and his team celebrated wildly after inflicting a first home loss of the term on Hearts. The Falkirk manager got a perfect pay-off from half-time switches when one of his subs Parkinson crashed home the opener. Although Shankland’s spot-kick dragged the game beyond the 90 minutes, they stayed strong through extra-time and won it when Parkinson, signed last week from Newcastle, hit the decisive kick. It was a thrilling finale to a contest which took time to catch fire. Little happened in the opening period, but it exploded to life quickly in the second with Hearts first thinking they had opened the scoring when Tomas Magnusson fired home. However, VAR advised ref Nick Walsh of a handball and pain deepened when Parkinson netted his first goal for Falkirk turning home Filip Lissah’s cross. Parkinson missed a terrific opportunity soon afterwards to double the advantage and his team would pay six minutes from time when Hearts debutant Islam Chesnokov was brought down in the box by Leon McCann. Shankland slammed high past keeper Scott Bain and, when no-one could seal it in the extra 30 minutes where the Hearts captain went off, he was missed in the penalties, Blair Spittal, Alexandros Kyziridis, Landry Kabore, Harry Milne scored, but Kabangu missing the target with their fourth kick sealed the fate. Brad Spencer, Liam Henderson, Brian Graham and Dylan Tait beat Alexander Schwolow leaving Parkinson to finish the job. McGlynn was determined to try and make things happen. Scoreless at half-time would be fine for most visiting managers, but the Falkirk boss wanted more. He wasn't happy with what he'd seen, change shape and made three changes at the interval with attacking options altered saying as much. They paid off with one of them, Parkinson, bagging the priceless opening goal. They were rewarded for bravery. Problems are piling up for Hearts. Cammy Devlin’s potential eight-week absence is a huge blow to Hearts and he is going to take some replacing. Baningime is suspended for the next two matches in the Premiership and the sight of Shankland signalling to the bench that he needed to come off in extra-time was another hugely worrying sign in terms of injury to seasoned stars. It's a massive concern for the boss. Falkirk's backline has laid a solid foundation, with stars like Lissah outstanding in a run of five games and just two goals lost. VAR was at the center of attention, with technology in operation at Tynecastle and ruling out Magnusson’s effort at the beginning of the second period for handball. Many feel it should either be every game or none at all, but Falkirk were certainly glad of it, even if McInnes wasn't impressed with the intervention. McInnes made a call on his Hearts goalkeeper, Craig Gordon, who hadn’t lost a goal in a game-and-a-half deputising, but McInnes opted to put Schwolow back into the fold. It was a show of loyalty given his performances this term. The German had little chance as Parkinson struck and made superb saves in extra-time to deny Calvin Miller and Louie Marsh. He didn’t get near any penalties, though.
