Islam Chesnokov celebratesSNS

Islam Chesnokov became the first Kazakh to score in the Scottish Premiership

At a glance

  • Chesnokov's first goal for club puts Hearts five points clear at top

  • Falkirk provide stern opposition for league leaders but fail to net

  • Celtic and Rangers play on Sunday to try to keep pace with McInnes' side

Watch: Hearts v Falkirk - Sportscene highlights

21/02/26

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Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

Leaders Hearts got back to winning ways in the Scottish Premiership title race, overcoming Falkirk with a narrow victory at Tynecastle thanks to Islam Chesnokov's first goal for the club.

Derek McInnes' side responded to last weekend's defeat at Ibrox by moving five points clear at the summit, with Rangers and Celtic both playing on Sunday.

Falkirk flew out of the traps but Hearts eventually gathered themselves and took the lead on the brink of half-time as Chesnokov controlled in the box to toepoke beyond Scott Bain.

In the second half, Bain was tested more frequently. Claudio Braga had a snapshot well saved by the Falkirk goalkeeper, who also denied Alexandros Kyziridis.

The visitors also had Filip Lissah to thank for keeping the deficit to just one. Kyziridis tried to lay the ball on a plate for Tomas Magnusson, but somehow Lissah got a touch to deny the Icelandic midfielder.

The only negative for McInnes is his side have picked up yet more injuries. Beni Baningime was ruled out on the morning of the game, Ageu pulled out in the warm-up and Stuart Findlay limped off in the second half.

Add those three to Lawrence Shankland, Cammy Devlin and Stephen Kingsley, and the title-chasing squad starts to look a little thin.

Analysis: Job done for Hearts but injuries starting to rack up

We are at the point in the season where Hearts fans would bite your hand off for a boring 1-0 victory at 2.59pm on a Saturday. After last week's defeat to Rangers, every game is now a must-win.

Falkirk put Hearts under real pressure at times, particularly in the opening few minutes. In the first half the visitors had more shots than Hearts and more on target, too.

But they failed to test Alexander Schwolow, putting their best two chances over the bar - Ben Broggio's snapshot and Barney Stewart's header.

Instead, it was Hearts who were more clinical - only just. Chesnokov took his goal well and will be relieved to get on the scoresheet for the first time. He was needing a goal after failing to impress on his first two starts.

Attacking stats between Hearts and FalkirkOpta

Another who needed a good performance was Brazilian midfielder Ageu. Instead, he suffered an injury in the warm-up and withdrew.

Hearts' record signing has had a torrid time with injuries and has played just 126 minutes in his debut campaign.

He is joined on the sidelines by Beni Baningime, although McInnes is confident the midfielder will be back next week.

There will be more doubts around Stuart Findlay. The centre-back went off holding his hamstring and his absence would be a huge blow to Hearts' backline. He, alongside defensive partner Craig Halkett, has been tipped for a Scotland recall, such is his form this season.

Hearts were already missing Shankland, Devlin, Kingsley, Craig Gordon, Oisin McEntee and Calem Nieuwenhof. Add Findlay to that mix and it is verging on crisis.

What they said

Hearts head coach Derek McInnes: "The goal comes before half-time, which makes the team talk a wee bit different. But we did speak about the importance of communicating more clearly, quicker, louder, more often and making sure our out-of-possession stuff was much better.

"We managed the second half really well. Just disappointed we never managed to get a second goal, but sometimes 1-0 is enough, particularly at this stage of the season."

Falkirk manager John McGlynn: "I'm frustrated by our performance, I don't think we were at our best.

"I do take into consideration we're away to the league leaders who are looking to bounce back from a defeat last week and giving it everything, but we felt we could come and put up a fight. In the second half, we've not done enough, we've not created enough."

What's next?

Hearts host Aberdeen in the Premiership next Saturday (15:00 GMT), while Falkirk welcome Kilmarnock at the same time.

Player of the match

H. Milne
7.41
18 H. Milne
7.41
10 Cláudio Braga
7.16
99 I. Chesnokov
6.97
4 C. Halkett
6.86
25 A. Schwolow
6.73
16 B. Spittal
6.52
49 M. Leonard
6.51
22 T. Magnússon
6.48
89 A. Kyziridis
6.45
19 S. Findlay
6.39
23 J. Altena
6.03
15 M. Steinwender
5.86
5 J. McCart
5.69
11 P. Kaboré
5.32
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After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.