Edinburgh knows all about that. Their castle dominates the city's skyline and is afforded by the ultimate of safe positions.

But three miles up the road at Tynecastle Stadium last Saturday, a similar bastion proved just as hard to break down.

Even big guns wouldn't have breached Falkirk's ramparts as every player, to a man, stood firm – from the front line all the way back through the ranks.

Hearts, by head coach Stevie Frail's admission, "huffed and puffed" and simply couldn't blow their opponent's rock-solid walls down. As a result, the Bairns took one step closer to their ultimate prize of a top six finish.

If you don't concede goals then you don't lose games, simple enough. That's something John Hughes' men have now done in FIVE of their last six SPL encounters.

"It was imperative that we came here and got something," said the manager.

"So I picked a team that could stand up to them, and they did that.

"We were disciplined, resolute and worked hard.

"I can't remember our keeper having to make a save and we even might have won the match on the counter-attack.

"We haven't been scoring a lot of goals but, if you turn that around, then you could say the strikers are defending from the front.

"Nobody will say we don't go and get at teams. However, when working within certain limitations, in terms of money, that 'siege mentality' is something we have to create here and is what we are working hard on the training pitch to achieve. It worked a treat today.

"We'll always look to play with short, sharp passes but I'm just delighted to be keeping clean sheets right now."

With Aberdeen – Falkirk's other rivals for a top half place come April
5 – drawing with St Mirren, it meant the league standings remained exactly as they were prior to kick-off, albeit with only two games remaining.

The Bairns now host Kilmarnock on Saturday and, with results in their favour elsewhere, a home win could virtually assure a finish one better off than last year.

Hearts, meanwhile, take on Dundee United in Edinburgh and the Dons travel to Inverness, but both are three points behind in the race for sixth and have an inferior goal difference.

The Falkirk supporters, therefore, should be turning out in big numbers for this weekend's match.

They certainly did at Tynecastle, with the away ticket allocation completely selling out five days previously.

Should it have been offered beforehand, each and every one would probably have been happy to take, from a potential 'six-pointer', a solitary one back home.

And, despite not watching the best of spectacles, they were easily – and audibly – the happier of the two sets of fans come full-time.

Trying to work out Hughes' formation was, at times, quite confusing – but, on further examination, tactically astute. When defending, they shaped into a 5-4-1, when attacking a 3-5-2.

The outcome meant that Hearts only had two decent chances in the first half, and both of those came from defensive errors.

Kenny Milne's short back pass was quickly picked up by Calum Elliot but the superb Darren Barr, leading the back line in a manner well above his years, blocked the shot.

Further defensive sloppiness resulted in Saulius Mikoliunas being presented with a rare opening until Robert Olejnik raced out of the box and prevented the striker from progressing further.

Cue fury from the home support, all intent that an arm was used to stop the ball, but referee Charlie Richmond waved play on.

The tireless running of Graham Barrett then saw him break through the home defence before being hauled down by Lee Wallace – a certain red card for the Hearts defender had the assistant referee not made a tight off-side call.

Scott Arfield then blazed a shot wide of the upright, Barrett's low drive was well held and Tam Scobbie headed over.

After the break it was much of the same. Stifling at the back and a lack of cutting edge up front from either side as play ebbed and flowed from box to box.

The best opportunities fell to Falkirk though, who were growing in confidence by the minute. Milne wasted a decent chance, Gerard Aafjes just failed to connect with a Pedro Moutinho corner and Arnau Riera hit the ball well over.

Falkirk didn't actually need to win this one however, and Hearts remained aimless and ineffective – summed up when the virtually redundant Olejnik looked on as Michael Stewart's audacious overhead kick from 16 yards flew into the stand.

The Gorgie side's performance had simply failed to emulate their stadium announcer's rallying cry that this game, for them, was "make no mistake, massive".

Instead, Falkirk looked after themselves effectively and did exactly what was required to move one step closer towards realising their lofty ambitions.

Falkirk: Olejnik 7, Ross 7, Barr 8, Milne 7, Scobbie 7, McBride 7 (Riera 81, 3), Aafjes 7, Cregg 8, Arfield 7, Finnigan 7 (Moutinho 72, 4), Barrett 8
Not used: Supple, Clarke, Latapy, Mitchell, Moffat
Booked: Aafjes 45, Scobbie 73

Hearts: Banks, Neilson, Berra, Zaliukas, Wallace, Mikoliunas, Stewart, Palazuelos, Cesnauskis (Ksanavicius 15), Kingston (Screpis 90), Elliot (Mole 68)
Not used: Basso, Tall, Thomson, Jonsson
Booked: Zaliukas 85

Referee: Charlie Richmond

HEARTS 0

FALKIRK 0
(HT 0-0)
Game rating: 4 0ut of 10

Attendance: 16,682



Falkirk Hearts
54% Possession 46%
2 Shots on target 2
8 Shots off target 4
10 Total goal attempts 6
4 Corners 6
4 Offsides 0
15 Free kicks conceded 14
2 Yellow cards 1
0 Red cards 0