Falkirk manager John McGlynn says his side knew they had to “smell blood” against an injury-hit Hearts side in Sunday’s 5-2 victory at Tynecastle.
The Bairns led after only four minutes and were 4-0 up at half-time after a rampant first-half display.
Goals from Finley Barbrook, Owen Eames, Liam Henderson and a brace from Jacob Murrell sent Falkirk into third place in the Scottish Premiership, whilst they ended a 26-match unbeaten home run for Hearts, stretching back 547 days.
Falkirk quickly scored a fifth after the restart before Sabri Guendouz netted his first goal for Hearts with Cláudio Braga converting from the penalty spot.
Speaking after Sunday’s game, McGlynn was filled with praise for his players, voicing his delight towards the first-half performance.
“Yeah, absolutely, we’ve never been 5-0 up here. First half we were outstanding, great start to the game for us to get the goal so early. We knew it was documented about the Hearts injuries, coming off the back of a game on Thursday night, it was always going to be difficult for them.
“So we had to smell blood and we had to go for it and that’s exactly what happened. Some of the goals were outstanding play in the first half. We won every duel, we won everything all over the park.
“So yeah, we got ourselves 4-0 up at half-time, which is dreamland.”
McGlynn admitted that a change of formation from Hearts at half-time, along with the introductions of substitutes Sabri Guendouz and Matthew Gillies, made it more difficult for Falkirk to maintain the same control of the game.
“Hearts changed formation and made substitutions at half-time. That caused us some problems and it meant that Hearts had a lot of the ball and dominated the second period. But, you know, we’re taking 5-2 every day of the week at 3 o’clock.”
Sunday’s emphatic victory means Falkirk have now equalled a club record run of five consecutive wins, with victories over Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, Celtic and Hearts.
With the international break coming up, McGlynn acknowledged that his group of players have come a long way from the previous one, having been at the bottom end of the table back in September.
“Make no mistake about it, it jumps us up into third place in the league. Five games, you know, winning, five in a row. It’s not been done since 1995, I’m led to believe. So, 31 years ago, Jim Jefferies’ team. So I’m delighted for everyone involved in the football club that we managed to equal that record.
“You know, we can have the break. Looking at Sky Sports News, we had a league table coming up and we’re sitting third, which is always nice to see. We were at the second bottom in the last international break, so we’ve done something right.”
McGlynn was asked where this current winning run could take Falkirk this season, but was reluctant to get carried away as he feels the league has been unpredictable this campaign but is pleased to have been on the right end of those results as of late.
“The obvious answer is to the next game, isn’t it? We’ve got St Johnstone at home. St Johnstone have been playing really, really well. We’re delighted. We’re not going to get carried away. We’re 13 games in. I mean, there’s other teams had good starts and are now maybe a little bit lower on the league table than where they were early on in the season. And so, it’s virtually, maybe not today with the scoreline, but virtually every other game is on a knife edge.
“You know, if you take on Motherwell and Dundee United, every game you’ve played in, it’s just like that. You could win it, you could lose it, it could be a draw. And the league is very much like that.
So, we’re delighted that we’re getting that. We’re making that little edge that’s going in our favour. But, you know, I watch a lot of football. I understand what’s going to be happening. We’ve just got to try and keep getting the breaks.”
Next up for Falkirk is a home match against Simo Valakari’s St Johnstone on November 21st, with kick-off at 3pm.
