FALKIRK 2 HEARTS 1: Vrancken accuses players of panic as Gorgie men are beaten by Bairns

Wouter Vrancken accused his Hearts players of panicking as they missed the chance to leapfrog Rangers into second place in the Premiership.

The Belgian coach offered no excuses for a sloppy and disorganised display by his team in their 2-1 defeat at Falkirk.

Goals from loanees Ben Krauhaus and Owen Eames, either side of James Wilson’s equaliser, earned a deserved first league win of the season for the Bairns.

‘It was a poor performance,’ admitted Vrancken. ‘We started the game with some poor communication and were too slow to get back into our organisation. It was not good enough.

‘I saw some panic in the team in the first half. We were too reactive, not proactive. If you are not proactive, you don’t find good solutions and cannot dominate a game.

‘It’s very annoying and frustrating. It wasn’t only the guys on the ball, it was also the guys who can give the solutions. Both of those things were not there and that makes it difficult to play a good game.

‘At the start of the second half, it was a bit better. We put JJ Williams on to try and hold the ball up and give us more offensively. At the beginning it worked and he had a big chance to put us ahead.

‘If that had gone in, it might have changed things. But in the end, it just wasn’t good enough and it was a deserved victory for Falkirk.

‘Too many players were not at their level. We have to learn from this and it’s important how we react now’.

Williams replaced Wilson at half-time and Vrancken confirmed it was solely a tactical decision and the 19-year-old, recalled to the Scotland squad yesterday by new boss Sebastien Pocognoli, was not injured.

‘James scored a good goal but after that he wasn’t in the game so much,’ said Vrancken. ‘It’s also about things that happened behind him. So nothing wrong with James.’

Falkirk manager John McGlynn was both relieved and delighted to see his team get that first Premiership victory of the campaign at their sixth attempt.

‘It was good to get the monkey off our back,’ said McGlynn. ‘The fixture list wasn’t kind to us but I’m delighted for the players tonight.

‘You have to work so hard to win any game in this league and they did that. We got out the blocks well and scored a good goal.

‘It’s hard to stop a team like Hearts coming back into the game but we should have done better at their equaliser.

‘We took over after Scott Bain saved from Williams in the second half. We had good chances and deserved the win overall. It gives us a huge lift.’