Shankland and Baningime struggling after loss in Gorgie

Derek McInnes admitted Hearts are dealing with injuries to key players following Saturday night’s Scottish Cup defeat to Falkirk. The Edinburgh club lost 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw but are now counting the cost of muscle injuries to captain Lawrence Shankland and midfielder Beni Baningime. That follows news that Cammy Devlin will be missing for six to eight weeks with an ankle problem.

Ben Parkinson put Falkirk ahead in the second half of the fourth-round tie at Tynecastle before Shankland’s penalty equaliser. In the shootout at the end of extra-time, every player from both sides scored except the Tynecastle forward Elton Kabangu. The defeat sees Premiership leaders Hearts exit the tournament at the first hurdle after suffering losing at the first knockout round in the League Cup against St Mirren.

Shankland was substituted after appearing to hurt a hamstring, with Baningime also holding his hamstring area near the end of extra-time. He couldn’t be taken off since Hearts had used all their subs at that stage. Asked about Shankland, who is now a major doubt for next week’s league match with Celtic, McInnes admitted there is concern. “It’s not great, I don't think. I don't know exactly what he's done,” said the manager. “Again, when it comes to penalties, you want to keep him on for obvious reasons. He doesn't look good for next week anyway. I don't know. It just didn't look good. In fact, he had to come off.”

On Baningime, McInnes acknowledged that the Congolese cannot play against Celtic or Dundee United because of suspension. “He's suspended for the next two, so I think it's more a cramp. He was down to take one of the penalties, but because his hamstring kept going into a cramp, he never took a penalty.”

McInnes explained that being knocked out of the Scottish Cup hurt. “It stings, I think any time you lose a cup tie on penalty kicks, it stings that bit more,” he said. “Obviously we've had experience of it already this season and it's not nice. There was a lot of people at the start of this week who had said to me - people outwith [the club] - had said about prioritising St Mirren over the cup game. I didn't really like that mentality, I thought we should be prioritising both. I think it's important we are a strong cup team.

“It's been a tough week, it has took its toll in terms of injuries, suspensions and effort put out by the players. We started the game really strong, I thought we would really need to get off to a flying start and impose ourselves in the game. I thought we were brilliant that first half hour, I thought we moved the ball really well around their shape. Obviously Falkirk changed their shape. Once the team lines came in, we were comfortable with what we were doing, but we were guilty of not taking enough shots, not working the goalkeeper enough, not taking opportunities. Really, when you're as dominant as that in that first half hour, you've got to make hay and we didn't.

“Falkirk changed shape, which meant the press was slightly different. I thought they actually, in the last 10 minutes of the first half, had a wee bit more comfort in the game. I thought they had a wee bit more of them connecting the game a wee bit. We spoke at half-time. Obviously they made changes to the front line, three changes. We needed to then go and press from centre-back a bit more and squeeze the game.

“We lose a poor goal, which skews everything really. It means we're on the canvas and we've got it all to do. It's such a poor goal from our point of view. It's a technical goal we don't normally lose, but getting done like that in the wide areas isn't good enough, so we had it all to do. We get a deserved equaliser, I felt, in the context of the game. Just applying a bit of pressure, playing forward and putting their defenders under a bit more pressure. Obviously Chesney [Islam Chesnokov] was brought down and Lawrence tucks it away.”

Hearts weren’t happy that midfielder Tomas Magnusson had a goal disallowed for handball on 53 minutes with the scoreline 0-0. “I need to say, from the angle I've seen, it's not definitive for me that that's a handball,” stated McInnes. “VAR have seen it from the main stand side angle. If the referee gives it, fair enough if he's maybe seen it, but I don't think VAR should be getting involved in that. I don't see any real motion from Tomas to gain an advantage. It's the type of thing that we said VAR wouldn't get involved in a couple of weeks ago at Hampden. It either is or it isn't. They either don't get involved or they do get involved. I thought it was really harsh for that goal to be chopped off.

“Our reaction to going out of the League Cup was brilliant, as you've seen in the league. The only benefit you get for this is a few games less. You want a cup run, there's no positives really to take as it stands now. We've got eight days before we play Celtic. We'll dust ourselves down, we'll see where we are, we'll get over this disappointment because that's the job. We'll be ready for them when it comes round.”

Falkirk manager John McGlynn was elated at seeing his team become the first side to win at Tynecastle this season. “Brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” he said. “It was a huge game away to the league leaders. It wasn't the draw that we were hoping for, but they took the challenge on to be fair. I thought we were miles off at first half, I thought Hearts were excellent, they popped the ball out for fun. They didn't create an awful lot, one shot from distance that Scott Bain made a routine save from, but we weren't there, we weren't there.

“We had to make changes, we had to change. We had a shape that we didn't really carry out as well as we should have done, first and foremost, and then we had to change. So we changed halfway through the first half, and then we had to make changes at half time, which worked. We started the second half much better and scored a really good goal. Then it's really just a matter of trying to hold on to it.

“We're always going to get forced back. We nearly did that, I've not seen it back, but I thought at the time, I don't think Leon [McCann] had to make the challenge that he's made [for Hearts’ penalty]. They scored the penalty and then obviously, extra time, and it was just a matter of battling and battling. I'm delighted to say that we've obviously managed to show a lot of courage in the penalties. There are 17,000 or 18,000 booing every one of your players, which I understand. I'm not criticising that, but it takes a bit of balls to go up when that's happening, and going straight to penalties. So I'm delighted with that.”