The title-chasing Jambos’ dreams of a Double were dashed at Tynecastle as the Bairns booked their place in the next round

23:00, 17 Jan 2026Updated 02:10, 18 Jan 2026

(Image: PA)

Ben Parkinson started and finished it as fearless Falkirk heaped misery onto shattered Hearts.

Derek McInnes’ Premiership title chasers had dreams of double glory ripped away when Elton Kabangu missed in a dramatic spot-kick finale. And, if that wasn’t painful enough for Hearts, seeing skipper Lawrence Shankland hobble off in extra-time in a potentially devastating blow just doubled the agony.

The skipper had levelled Parkinson’s strike late in normal time from the spot and his loss just poured salt into the wounds of a cup exit. With key man Cammy Devlin already sidelined and Beni Baningime hobbling at the finish, damage to Shankland would be another brutal setback approaching the title run-in and next weekend’s clash with Celtic.

Understandably, none of this was any concern to John McGlynn and his team, who celebrated wildly after inflicting a first home loss of the term on Hearts. The Falkirk manager got a perfect pay-off from half-time switches when one of his subs Parkinson crashed home the opener.

And, although Shankland’s spot-kick dragged the game beyond the 90 minutes, they stayed strong through in extra-time and won it when Parkinson, signed last week from Newcastle, hit the decisive kick.

It was a thrilling finale to a contest which took time to catch fire. Little happened in the opening period, but it exploded to life quickly in the second with Hearts firstly thinking they had opened the scoring when Tomas Magnusson fired home.

However, VAR advised ref Nick Walsh of a handball and pain deepened when Parkinson netted his first goal for Falkirk turning home Filip Lissah’s cross. Parkinson missed a terrific opportunity soon afterwards to double the advantage and his team would pay six minutes from time when Hearts debutant Islam Chesnokov was brought down in the box by Leon McCann.

Shankland slammed high past keeper Scott Bain and, when no-one could seal it in the extra 30 minutes where the Hearts captain went off, he was missed in the penalties, Blair Spittal, Alexandros Kyziridis, Landry Kabore, Harry Milne scored, but Kabangu missing the target with their fourth kick sealed the fate.

Brad Spencer, Liam Henderson, Brian Graham and Dylan Tait beat Alexander Schwolow leaving Parkinson to finish the job.

Fearless Falkirk

McGlynn was determined to try and make things happen. Scoreless at half-time would be fine for most visiting managers, but the Falkirk boss wanted more. He wasn’t happy with what he’d seen, change shape and made three changes at the interval with attacking options altered saying as much. They paid off with one of them, Parkinson, bagging the priceless opening goal. They were rewarded for bravery.

Problems piling up for Hearts

Cammy Devlin’s potential eight-week absence is a huge blow to Hearts and he is going to take some replacing. Baningime is suspended for the next two matches in the Premiership and the sight of Shankland signalling to the bench that he needed to come off in extra-time was another hugely worrying sign in terms of injury to seasoned stars. It’s a massive concern for the boss.

(Image: SNS Group)

Bairns backline doing their bit

Much has been made of the style in Falkirk’s play, yet the lads in the backline have laid a platform. Stars such as Lissah were outstanding in a run of five games and just two goals lost heading to Gorgie and another clean sheet looked on the cards until McCann was tempted into the tackle on Chesnokov.

VAR at centre of attention

The technology wasn’t used across all the other Saturday Scottish Cup ties, but it was in operation at Tynecastle and had a big say when Magnusson’s effort was ruled out at the beginning of the second period for the Icelandic’s handball. Many feel it should either be every game or none at all, but Falkirk were certainly glad of it, even if McInnes wasn’t impressed with the intervention.

McInnes makes call on his Hearts goalkeeper

Craig Gordon hadn’t lost a goal in a game-and-a-half deputising, but McInnes opted to put Schwolow back into the fold. It was a show of loyalty given his performances this term. The German had little chance as Parkinson struck and made superb saves in extra-time to deny Calvin Miller and Louie Marsh. Didn’t get near any penalties, though.