Heart of Midlothian returned to winning ways in the Scottish Premiership with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Falkirk at Tynecastle Park.
After last weekend’s setback at Ibrox, Derek McInnes’ side responded in ideal fashion, moving five points clear at the summit ahead of Rangers and Celtic’s fixtures on Sunday.
Falkirk made the brighter start and caused early concern, but Hearts gradually found their rhythm.
The breakthrough arrived on the stroke of half-time when Islam Chesnokov controlled smartly inside the area before toe-poking beyond goalkeeper Scott Bain to net his first goal for the club.
The visitors continued to threaten, yet failed to seriously test Alexander Schwolow, with their best efforts drifting over the bar.
At the other end, Bain kept Falkirk in the contest after the break, denying Claudio Braga and Alexandros Kyziridiswith sharp saves.
Falkirk also owed thanks to Filip Lissah, who made a crucial intervention to prevent Tomas Magnusson from doubling Hearts’ lead after Kyziridis’ clever pass.
While the result strengthens Hearts’ title bid, injuries continue to mount.
Beni Baningime was ruled out on the morning of the match, Ageu withdrew during the warm-up, and Stuart Findlay limped off with a hamstring issue.
They join an already lengthy absentee list that includes Lawrence Shankland, Cammy Devlin and Stephen Kingsley.
For now, though, it was job done for McInnes and his side - a narrow but vital win that keeps their title charge firmly on track, even as squad depth begins to look stretched.
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."
