Wouter Vrancken condemned a ‘ridiculous’ first-half display from his sorry Hearts side as their 18-month unbeaten home record in the Premiership was ripped apart by ruthless Falkirk.

The beleaguered Tynecastle side, who went into the game without 11 players through injury following a gruelling run of fixtures, endured a dismal afternoon as the Bairns raced into a 4-0 half-time lead on their way to a fifth Premiership win in a row.

Finley Barbrook, Owen Eames, Liam Henderson and Jacob Murrell’s double had the visitors 5-0 up within 47 minutes before Hearts reduced the deficit through substitute Sabri Guendouz and a Claudio Braga penalty.

It was a first league defeat at Tynecastle since April 2025 for the Gorgie men, who have now won just two of their last 11 matches in all competitions.

‘This is an embarrassment, the first half for sure,’ said Vrancken. ‘Always doubting, always doing things half-half, in possession, out of possession, everything, and such easy goals again.

‘When you give those easy goals, then you cannot win a game. It’s childish goals and cannot happen on this level. Those simple things, they are the basics actually in these situations.

‘It’s crazy, crazy, and everybody — me, staff, players — have to take responsibility in those things. This is ridiculous.’

To exacerbate their grim predicament, Hearts lost yet another senior player as defender Malachi Fagan-Walcott limped off in the second half.

‘This also makes me a bit angry, because now we lose Mal again,’ said Vrancken. ‘Hopefully it’s not too bad, but still we had to replace him there, because he was one of the guys who was good in the game and in the last games actually he had a really consistent, good level.’

Hearts were leapfrogged into third place by Falkirk, who secured five consecutive top-flight victories for the first time in 31 years.

‘I’ve never been 5-0 up here before,’ said Bairns manager John McGlynn. ‘First half we were outstanding. A great start to the game for us to get the goal so early.

‘We got ourselves 4-0 up at half-time, which is dreamland. Hearts had a lot of the ball and dominated the second period, but we’re taking 5-2 every day of the week, make no mistake about it.’

The Bairns seized the lead in the fourth minute. After Murrell’s close-range effort from Scott Tanser’s cross was brilliantly saved by Beau Reus, Barbrook reacted quickest to drill home a low, angled finish from eight yards out.

Falkirk doubled their lead in the 17th minute after the hosts were caught wide open on the counter-attack. Yan Dhanda’s shot from distance was charged down, allowing the Bairns to break swiftly, with Brad Spencer weighting his pass perfectly for Eames who fired past the exposed Reus.

Braga thought he had pulled one back for Hearts in the 20th minute, but it was ruled out for handball.

Falkirk took full advantage of this reprieve by adding a third in the 33rd minute as Murrell peeled off Fagan-Walcott at the back post to nod home Deniss Melniks’ cross from the right.

The visitors struck again in first-half stoppage-time as Henderson curled high past Reus after Tanser’s corner broke to him just inside the box.

Within two minutes of the restart Falkirk notched again as Murrell fired home after being set up by Ethan Ross.

Hearts got off the mark when Guendouz drilled in his first goal for the club from just inside the box in the 50th minute. Braga then tucked away a penalty in the 74th minute after Guendouz was tripped by Lewis Neilson, but it was far too little, far too late.

McGlynn added: ‘We had to smell blood and we had to go for it and that’s exactly what happened. Our play was outstanding in the first half. We won every duel, we won everything all over the park.

‘Winning five on the trot has not been done since 1995, Jim Jefferies’ team, so I’m delighted for everyone at the football club that we’ve managed to equal that record.’