Derek McInnes has urged his injury-hit Hearts to tighten up defensively as the title race reaches boiling point – and thanked Tynecastle fans for staying behind his team and stopping a tense win over Falkirk becoming a crisis.
Manager McInnes was unhappy with goals lost in transitions in the 4-2 loss at Ibrox last weekend and felt his side were vulnerable in those situations again in battling their way to a 1-0 home win over the Bairns thanks to Islam Chesnokov’s first goal for the club.
The Hearts boss lost record signing Eduardo Ageu in the warm-up, had Beni Baningime and reserve keeper Craig Gordon ruled out before kick-off and saw defender Stuart Findlay hobble off late on as his men went five clear of Rangers having played a game more.
With the likes of Lawrence Shankland, Cammy Devlin and Oisin McEntee also injured, he admits the squad has to step up during the run-in – and made clear his debt to the support clear over the way they stood firm and stayed positive during a difficult first 45.
‘In the first half, there was a 20-25 minute period where we looked really anxious,’ said McInnes. ‘I need to thank the fans because, in that little period in the first half, it would have been easy to make the team more anxious.
Hearts players hail Islam Chesnokov after he scored the winning goal against Falkirk
Hearts boss Derek McInnes has urged his side to show composure as the title race hots up
‘I actually thought they were the opposite. I thought they were brilliant.
‘I think they understand it. I think there’s so many at hearts who this is new to and I think they all recognise they have a role to play. It helped the team, I think.
‘We get the goal just before half-time, so, rather than coming off to grumbles and all the rest of it, we get the goal.
‘I thought we thoroughly deserved the win. We had more shots, more shots on target. I thought our performance was far better and far tidier in the second half.
‘I thought our out-of-possession stuff was good the whole game, but our in-possession stuff needed to be better. At times, we didn’t really knit the game together enough. The scarier moments came when we lost the ball in poor areas.
‘We need to get better. We need to tighten up our decision-making at times and stop giving opportunities.
‘I don’t think Falkirk caused us too many problems. It was more on transitions, us being slack and them having the pace and the quality to trouble us.
‘We spoke at half-time about the need to communicate louder, and more effectively. We were causing ourselves problems just by not using our voice.
‘We needed to take the anxiety out of the game by being a wee bit more organised and stop giving them little sniffs of encouragement.
Islam Chesnokov celebrates after scoring the winning goal for Hearts against Falkirk
‘Sometimes, these 1-0s are the bedrock of any success a team can have. I think that’s been demonstrated in history.’
McInnes feels Baningime and McEntee will be back available for next Saturday’s home clash with Aberdeen, but was less positive about Ageu.
‘We’ve got six central midfield players injured and it was far from ideal for Ageu,’ he said. ‘The boy is distraught because I thought he would have been playing in a position that suits him.
‘He’s got a thigh issue. He felt it when he was doing his shooting in the warm-up. I can’t dress it up. It’s a huge blow for us, obviously.’
His words on Gordon will also raise alarm bells with national coach Steve Clarke with the World Cup on the horizon.
‘It’s the other shoulder from the one that kept him out at the start of the season,’ said McInnes. ‘I don’t know where that’s sitting currently. I don’t think it’s getting any easier.
‘We hoped on Monday, when he first flagged it up, that it might get easier as the week goes on. On Friday night, we had Alexander Schwolow out as well. He had diarrhoea and sickness.
Hearts defender Stuart Findlay was forced to go off with an injury
‘Thankfully, he managed to get a decent night’s sleep and stepped up, so we’re really grateful for that.’
McInnes is also optimistic that Findlay will recover for Aberdeen.
‘I just always assume Stu’s going to be all right, so I don’t know,’ he said.
‘He’s been toiling a wee bit. He’s not really trained this week and Craig Halkett’s been struggling a wee bit as well.
‘He could do with that rest after the Aberdeen game just to settle him down a wee bit. I’m hoping he’s all right.
‘I think there’s about eight or nine maybe in total, but the challenge is for the squad to step up.
‘Hopefully, we’ve only got three games now in the next five or six weeks, so, if we can get through next Saturday, we can get a bit of respite and hopefully things will start to get a wee bit healthier.’
McInnes also reserved huge praise for matchwinner Chesnokov.
Falkirk boss John McGlynn urges his players on during Saturday’s game at Tynecastle
‘Such a good finish,’ said McInnes. ‘And he’s just getting better and better as well. Sometimes, you don’t see him for long spells, but he’s a moments player.
‘I think he’s going the right way. He’s got the trust of all his teammates. We see how honest he is. He works like a Trojan.
‘He’s probably the hardest working wide player I’ve worked with.’
Falkirk boss John McGlynn, meanwhile, felt his side just didn’t do enough to earn a share of the spoils despite seeing Barney Stewart head over from a great position late on.
‘He’s got to get it on target and get the keeper to make a save,’ said McGlynn, who saw Kyrell Wilson go off with an ankle problem and Coll Donaldson hurt his calf.
‘We were frustrated with our performance. We got ourselves into good positions in the first half in the final third, but created very little from it. Hearts deserved to win. We were too naive.’