Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo has expressed his disappointment at the booing directed at captain Michael Stewart when he was substituted in the second half of the goalless draw at home to Falkirk.

Following a lacklustre display from the midfielder, Stewart was replaced in the 79th minute by Ian Black and was sarcastically cheered and even jeered by the home fans.

The frustration among the crowd was palpable even before Stewart was withdrawn after the Tynecastle side missed several decent chances to open the scoring against the Clydesdale Bank Premier League's bottom team. But Laszlo insists the supporters need to stand by the club during the bad times as well as the good.

He said: "I can't talk for Mike but I think for the first time in my career I saw that the captain did not have the acceptance from the supporters, this is not okay.

"Everyone works for the club and so long as I'm in charge, I support the players.

"You can also be angry at Suso (Santana) and David Obua for missing chances.

"I think the supporters must know the situation, if you are two or three-nil up it's easy to support the team but at the moment this team is struggling and we need the support.

"I always protect my players and so long as Mike Stewart is in the club, he has the protection from us and from me.

"I don't know from the past if Mike has a special relationship with the supporters or not."

Falkirk manager Eddie May, meanwhile, concedes captain Darren Barr was fortunate not to have been sent off just before the break for felling Suso Santana on the edge of the box as the Spaniard raced goalwards.

He said: "The referee did extremely well, we would have had no complaints if he had sent him off.

"That's why we don't abuse the referees because they can do you a favour and I would not have had any complaints.

"Darren is a very good player for Falkirk and hopefully we can retain him beyond the end of the season."

May admits he was delighted to come away with a share of the spoils in Edinburgh.

He said: "It's a fantastic result coming here, we have come to a very difficult venue against a good Hearts team.

"The demands I put on the players are very high and sometimes they have been fantastic, we have to hit a consistency for the season.

"In some games we have played this season, we have been very good and in others we were not good enough."