Barr says Hearts owe fans big performance after shocker in Falkirk

The Tynecastle defender was unhappy with the performance of the Hearts defence as a whole, but also admitted that his own display had not been good enough as Jim Jefferies' team lost 4-3.

Falkirk had raced into a two-goal lead on their home patch on Tuesday night, only for Hearts to come screaming back out of the blocks after the restart to draw level through a Kevin Kyle spot kick and a further strike from Suso Santana.

When Kyle headed home his second of the night with just 12 minutes remaining it looked like there was only going to be one winner, but poor defending allowed Steven Pressley's men back into the game.

Ryan Flynn pulled them level with a curling effort from distance and their winner came when Barr was posted missing at the back post, allowing Brian McLean to head down for substitute Mark Stewart to bag his second of the night and Falkirk's fourth.

Barr was quick to hold his hands up to the mistakes that were made in the Hearts backline, both individually and as a unit, and, although there were more at fault than just him, he said: "We defended poorly as a team but my own performance wasn't up to scratch either, I know that.

"It's hard to put a finger on why, but I think it more than played a part in some of the goals that we lost.

"At 2-0 down we were still positive, the players we have got and the quality that we have in our side, there was never any chance of us giving up and we came back really well in the second half and did brilliantly to draw level and then go in front.

"After that it was just horrible and I can only apologise to the fans for the way it worked out.

"We weren't pleased with the way that we lost the first two goals but the last two were a nightmare and it was just slack defending on everyone's part."

Having played with Falkirk for six years before signing for Hearts in the summer, the defeat against his old side was a sore one for Barr to take, but he insisted that there could be no excuses, the defender adding: "Coming back here and not giving the best performance is a really hard one for me to take.

"I can't feel sorry for myself though, it's just one of those things that sometimes happen to you in football and I need to make sure that I pick myself up and get on with it. We need to make sure that we defend better as a team because, to be honest, it's just not good enough for Hearts, or for me personally."

Almost 2,000 Hearts fans packed into the Falkirk Stadium in the hope of seeing their side progress to the quarter- finals of the competition, but exited stunned by what they had just witnessed.

While they were silenced by the start Falkirk made to the game, they found their voice and roared their team on as they fought their way back into the game after the break.

Barr conceded that letting them down made the defeat doubly hard to take but hopes that they turn out in their numbers again this weekend to give them the same kind of backing when they take on Motherwell in the SPL.

He continued: "The support that we had on Tuesday night was just unbelievable so that probably makes it even worse.

"The backing that they gave us was brilliant in that second half and I think that the noise they made probably got us back in the game. The roar that they gave us was just fantastic and I think they deserved more out of the game, it's disappointing that we let them down like that.

"I hope that the fans turn up in their numbers on Saturday against Motherwell, despite this result.

"They were fantastic at Falkirk and I think we are definitely due them now, you really couldn't fault them and their reaction at the goals was just amazing.

"Our players were really feeding off of the noise but I think the racket they were making put Falkirk under real pressure at times and it's just a shame that we couldn't repay them for that."

Barr insisted that he and his team-mates must learn valuable lessons from Tuesday night's result - and learn them quickly.

They have just a couple of days to regroup before the visit of Craig Brown's side to Tynecastle and Barr knows that it is vital for everyone connected with the club that they bounce back quickly.

"It's just a horrible feeling. We managed to get ourselves back in the game in the second half but we didn't defend well all night and we have to take the blame for that.

"It's a real shame because the boys elsewhere in the team did well to pull us level and then get us in front.

"If there were any positives to take from the game it was the fact that we got ourselves back in the game, especially down to ten men.

"When we went in front I honestly thought that only one team looked like winning the game but the goals that we lost were so cheap.

"We're going to have to learn from that because it's just not good enough.

"We need to make sure that we bounce back from this straight away. It's a hard one to take and all of the boys are feeling it right now.

"But we have just got to get on with it, we play Motherwell this weekend and we have to lift ourselves and get back out there and hopefully get the right result on Saturday to get us back on track.

"The Falkirk result is obviously a massive disappointment for us but we have got to do everything we can to forget about that game, take any positives that we can and hopefully take them into the league."