WATCH IT AGAIN: Hearts 2 Falkirk 3, January 2015

Craig Sibbald’s older brother Gary wasn’t at Tynecastle on Saturday. But he was still cheering as loudly as any Bairns fan in the ground.

The LK Galaxy coach is a diehard Hibs supporter and was predictably thrilled when his sibling bagged a fine individual goal to secure a dramatic 3-2 Falkirk win over Hearts.

The Edinburgh side had enjoyed the longest unbeaten league record in UK professional football this season and few, if any, observers would have predicted it would be brought to a shuddering halt by Peter Houston’s team. The Bairns boss’s prematch preparations were disrupted when skipper David McCracken was a late call-of, forcing him to switch Will Vaulks to central defence.

It looked business as usual for the runaway league leaders when Genero Zeefuik ired the home side ahead with less than two minutes played. The pacey Osman Sow broke down the left, and his perfectly weighted angled pass from the byline found the onrushing Dutchman who coolly drilled the ball past Jamie MacDonald.

Falkirk fans could have been forgiven for fearing the worst as Hearts continued to press, but after weathering the storm the Bairns quickly carved out a series of chances. Peter Grant fired the ball over the bar despite being unmarked at the back post, and moments later Hearts goalkeeper Neil Alexander took a Rory Loy piledriver square in the face after the striker had been put clean through on goal.

It took a penalty to pull the away side level. McGhee fouled Loy just inside the box as the pair went for a bouncing ball and ref Don Robertson showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Bairns new boy John Baird duly made no mistake from 12 yards. Peter Houston ordered his players to maintain their tempo in the second half and the impressive Mark Kerr, Blair Alston and Craig Sibbald refused to let the Hearts midfield settle and were soon dictating play.

The Bairns snatched the lead after 52 minutes with a superb strike from Loy. The frontman made up for his earlier miss by clearing one challenge and dashing along the Hearts 18-yard line into space before unleashing a beautiful let-footed curled shot into Alexander’s top let corner.

That strike galvanised Hearts and they pulled level on 73 minutes after a sustained period of pressure when Keatings took advantage following good work in the box by Zeefuik.

It was a frantic second half, but again Falkirk took the initiative. Gomis was robbed of the ball by Alston and Sibbald duly collected. He dodged one challenge on the edge of the box, dribbled into space and calmly swept the ball into the bottom right corner past the despairing Alexander.

“I’m bursting with pride for the them, because they put a lot into that match today, “ said Houston. “I think we upset their rhythm and got in about them; stopped their good players playing. “John Baird’s performance up top with Rory Loy was absolutely superb. They held the ball up well and upset the Hearts central defence, didn’t give them a minute’s peace, but it would be harsh to pick out anyone in particular - I could go through the whole team and say they had done their job.

“Today was the day we got everything right. Nobody can say that we came here to sit in and steal a win.

“Our target from the beginning of the season has always been to get that play-of place. I still think Hearts will be champions. The fact is as after an indifferent start to the season we’ve come together and now have a much stronger squad. I know the division a bit more, I know the players a bit more. And we’ve now got the momentum going as our performances have been better and better.”