Thrown on at half-time as part of a three-pronged switch-up to try and get his new club a foothold in the game, Ben Parkinson emerged the penalty shoot-out hero as Falkirk dumped high-flying Hearts out of the Scottish Cup.
Hats off to visiting manager and former Jambos boss John McGlynn too, though. He knew his team had spent the first half of regulation time playing second-fiddle to the Premiership leaders and went for it with some major changes that altered everything.
Having snatched the lead through Parkinson, who also missed a great chance to make it 2-0, it looked as if the Bairns might come unstuck when Lawrence Shankland levelled it four minutes from time after Leon McCann had conceded a cheap penalty when fouling Hearts substitute Islam Chesnokov.
To the entire squad’s credit, though, they never stopped. Even when two fine saves from home keeper Alexander Schwolow had denied them in extra-time, they kept at it – and then kept their cool when it all boiled down to those 10 nerve-shredding kicks from the 12-yard mark.
Elton Kabangu, brought on for Shankland in the 96th minute after the Tynecastle captain appeared to tweak a hamstring, was the eventual sinner.
With the shoot-out tied at 3-3 after Blair Spittal, Alexandros Kyziridis and Pierre Landry Kabore had scored for the home side with Brad Spencer, Liam Henderson and Brian Graham netting for the visitors, the Belgian botched it up when sending his effort high and wide of visiting keeper Scott Bain’s right-hand post.
Falkirk players celebrate a shoot-out victory over Hearts at Tynecastle
Bairns boss John McGlynn salutes the large travelling support in Gorgie
Parkinson is perfect from the spot to seal a dramatic triumph
Dylan Tait then gave Falkirk the advantage, Harry Milne scored for Hearts and that left Parkinson, a 20-year-old just signed from Newcastle United a week or so ago, to whack one almighty effort down the middle and spark bedlam among the travelling support behind the goal. What this does for Hearts’ season will be fascinating too.
Shankland is now extremely doubtful for next Sunday’s top-of-the-table visit of Celtic with the likelihood being he’ll join the likes of Cammy Devlin and Oisin McEntee on the sidelines.
Beni Baningime will be there too as a result of suspension, but he was clutching his hammy towards the end as well.
‘I thought we were miles off it in the first half,’ said McGlynn. ‘We had to change.
‘I am delighted to say we then showed a lot of courage in the penalties because you’ve got 17,000 or 18,000 booing every one of your players. It takes a bit of balls to go up when that is happening.
‘It is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Ben was very bold because he has basically just come to the club. He wanted to take the last penalty.
‘I think we’ve got a boy there, a player there. I can’t wait for the draw now.
‘We had to dig in and show character.’
Hearts dominated possession in the first 45 – although their work in the final third of the field didn’t always live up to expectations with a weak header from Shankland and an effort from distance from Kyziridis, both saved by Bain, their best efforts.
It’s dejection for Hearts as they lost the shoot-out
Falkirk did manage a shot on goal just after the half-hour mark when a break upfield resulted in McCann having a go from 25 yards, but it was easily parried by Schwolow.
McGlynn switched things up at the break by throwing on recent arrivals Parkinson and Louie Marsh along with Kyrell Wilson in place of Stewart, Yeats and Henry Cartwright.
The intention was most definitely to play more on the front foot, but it looked like their plan had suffered a deadly blow on 53 minutes when Hearts forced the ball into the net.
Jordi Altena launched a long free-kick into the area from the right, Jamie McCart flicked it on and Magnusson forced it home from close range. After a long check, however, VAR Andrew Dallas correctly advised referee Nick Walsh that it should be ruled out for a handball by the Icelandic midfielder.
And, within five minutes, the visitors’ fresh approach to making inroads brought the most dramatic of results.
Filip Lissah got away from home substitute Spittal on the right flank and drove a really dangerous low ball into the area which Parkinson converted from a matter of yards.
The youngster then passed up a glorious opportunity to make it 2-0 just after the hour.
He was put through one-on-one against Schwolow, but slashed a wild effort high and wide when he had time to run in on goal.
The introduction of Chesnokov for Altena on 78 minutes represented one final throw of the dice for Hearts manager Derek McInnes and it paid off.
Derek McInnes expressed an injury concern for skipper Shankland after the Cup defeat
Making his debut, the Kazakh raced up the right with five minutes to play and was brought down by full-back McCann.
Shankland stepped up to make it 1-1 with an effort sidefooted straight down the middle while Bain jumped to his right.
The pace didn’t slow in extra-time. Schwolow was forced into a brilliant save from an angled Calvin Miller volley after Magnusson had slipped to gift him possession.
Shankland then appeared to hurt himself while trying to pick out Kabore with a cross at the other end and, after signalling to the bench, was replaced by Kabangu.
Hearts were fortunate to escape four minutes from time when Marsh, on loan at Falkirk from Sheffield United, saw an instinctive shot inside the area blocked at close-range by Schwolow.
The German’s heroics in goal just couldn’t continue, though. Falkirk march on in this remarkable campaign that also has them in the top six of the Premiership having only returned to the top-flight in the summer.
Hearts now have to show that they can keep their season on track by picking up the pieces.
‘Lawrence isn’t good,’ said McInnes of his captain afterwards. ‘I don’t know exactly what he has done, but it doesn’t look good for next week anyway.
‘Any time you lose a cup tie on penalties, it stings that bit more. It has been a tough week with injuries, suspensions and effort.
‘I was disappointed with the goal we had chalked off. From the angle I have seen, it is not definite it was a handball.
‘I don’t think VAR should be getting involved with that. I thought it was really harsh.’
