Claudio Braga and Stephen Kingsley were on target and a resurgent Hearts won 2-0 away after Falkirk were disqualified to move six points clear at the top of the William Hill Premiership.
The Zambos, boosted by a win over title rivals Celtic last Sunday to snap a four-match winless run, took an early lead over Braga.
Hearts, who survived a Bairns penalty claim just before half-time, had to dig deep to maintain the advantage before substitute Kingsley dashed the Bairns’ hopes of returning to the game with a brilliant strike in the 77th minute.
Falkirk, who had failed to score in their previous three games, made four changes to the side that lost 3-0 at Hibernian, with Sam Hart, Kyrell Wilson, Alfredo Agyeman and Henry Cartwright all added.
Claudio Braga opened the scoring just one minute after kick-off.
Hearts manager Derek McInnes sent out the same team that started the 2-1 win at Celtic Park and the league leaders got off to the perfect start, opening the scoring after just 65 seconds.
Lawrence Shankland’s powerful shot from just outside the penalty area was tipped off the underside of the crossbar by Scott Bain and the Falkirk goalkeeper failed to recover in time to prevent Braga nodding in the loose ball four yards out.
After overcoming this initial setback, the Bairns began to gain a foothold and Jambos goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow had to act smart to hold on to Calvin Miller’s shot, which was deflected by Michael Steinwender.
Two dangerous deliveries into the Hearts box within minutes of each other resulted in Craig Halkett and Steinwender scrambling the ball for a corner.
After four wins in a row, Hearts have now won back-to-back games.
But the visitors were still a threat and Shankland curled just over the far post after teeing it up on the left just inside Braga’s box.
Shankland got another chance from a tight angle after Alexandros Kyziridis and Braga set him up.
At the other end, Filip Lissah fired home from 20 yards.
The flashpoint occurred two minutes before half-time when Falkirk were awarded a penalty kick.
Wilson ran towards Agyeman’s through ball and rounded Schwolow, but Harry Milne slipped in to block the attacker’s goalbound effort with a forearm just in front of the line. After a VAR check, it was determined that the left full-back’s arm was inside his body, so a spot kick was not awarded.
Just before the hour Hearts winger Kyziridis saw a shot deflected backwards by Hart, and from a resulting corner Braga saw a header deflected wide by Bain.
Kingsley replaced Milne in the 74th minute and fired home a superb strike from 20 yards out to find the net after three minutes and send the traveling support into jubilation.
