Return to former clubs adds bit of spice to tie

Such is the transitory nature of modern-day football that games featuring players or managers facing their former clubs seem to now come round with increasing regularity. However, Hearts' Co-operative Insurance Cup meeting with Falkirk has more reason than most to capture the imagination and ratchet up the rancour this evening.

Back at Westfield for the first time in maroon will be Darren Barr. Falkirk's ex-skipper upset the Bairns fans in January by penning a pre-contract agreement to make the switch to Tynecastle in the summer and the defender may not be spared the ire of the home supporters who once idolised him.

Similarly, a one-time Hearts captain and hero will almost certainly also find himself in the firing line. Steven Pressley served the club so diligently and successfully for eight and a half years and pits his wits against his old employers for the first time as manager of Falkirk.

Having been given hostile receptions on his previous encounters with the Gorgie outfit as a player after leaving in controversial circumstances, the Bairns boss will be expecting nothing different this evening.

Amidst the maelstrom there could be some calming goodwill for Jim Jefferies, highly-regarded enough by Falkirk fans to have been named manager of the millennium despite leaving the club in emotional scenes for his first spell at Hearts 15 years ago.

All in all, a tie with layers of intrigue, but one that Jefferies is eager to see his team, buoyant after Saturday's impressive 3-1 victory at Inverness, come through unscathed to leave themselves with only two more steps for a shot at glory.

"If you're in any cup you've got to go and try and win it," he said. "The cups give you the best chance of silverware because it all depends on the night and if you take your chances and get the breaks.

"It's a difficult tie, but if we get through we're in the last eight and we're only a couple of wins away from the final again and you have to do your best to get there.

"We'll treat Falkirk as if they're a Premier League team. They've only just gone down from the Premier League so our message to our players will be that they were in the Premier League not so long ago and they've not made too many changes.

"Their focus will be mainly on getting back up but as Steven (Pressley] has said the players have got a chance to make a wee name for themselves and, I think the words he used were, enhance their reputations.

"He's quite right, he's trying to get his team up and motivated for it, but we've got enough motivation because clubs like this should be challenging at the business end of it when it comes round to finals and semi-finals and that's what we aim to do. It will be an interesting game but we should be going into it with confidence."

As a Falkirk apprentice, Barr saw the Bairns puncture Hearts' hopes of cup success seven years ago when Craig Levein's side were dumped unceremoniously out of the Scottish Cup 4-0 in a game in which they were incredibly four goals behind by the break.

However, with his defensive efforts not having been enough to save his old club from slipping into the First Division in May, both clubs have gone through many changes since 2003 and Barr is convinced he is now at a club with genuine hopes of landing silverware.

"No disrespect to Falkirk but Hearts are (better equipped to land silverware]. The strength in depth and the quality we've got here is great and there's more expectation as well. You can feel that around the club."

"Steven (Pressley] has said the players have got a chance to make a wee name for themselves" Jim Jefferies