Derek McInnes revels in Hearts' masterclass at Rangers and has say on Russell Martin situation

A double from Lawrence Shankland secured Hearts’ first win in Govan for 11 years and moved them three points clear at the top of the Premiership ahead of Celtic’s visit to Kilmarnock on Sunday.

McInnes took over at Hearts at the start of the season and has overseen an overhaul of the squad, with support from new investor Tony Bloom and his Jamestown Analytics player database. The Jambos have 13 points from a possible 15 in their first five league matches.

McInnes revelled in his side’s performance - although he admitted sympathy for his opposite number Russell Martin, who faced vitriol from his own fans.

"It's a good reference for us in terms of the new lads and the lads that have been here a while, that it's what it takes to win at a place like Ibrox,” said McInnes, who handed a debut to German goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow.

"Regardless of the circumstances, you've got to play well and we spoke before the game about trying to be something and trying to perform like you're used to winning here, that's easy to say but mentally I felt for me it was important that the players felt that they've got evidence of working here and winning here and having the confidence to do it and be bullish.

Great use of ball and Shankland masterclass

"I thought there was a good way about us in the first half in terms of when we needed to defend and were low block, we were absolutely fine. Other than one [Djeidi] Gassama shot, we just didn't quite get our distances and it was the one wee scare I felt in the first half.

"When we had to get after Rangers, we wanted to try and take that opportunity to try and stop Rangers playing a natural game. So when it was from a deeper position from Rangers' build, we worked so hard to try and knock them out of their stride, add to the anxiety that was clearly in the ground and not let them enjoy it and make it more difficult for them to get up the pitch. And I thought we'd done both sides really well, you can't be that for 90 minutes clearly, but when we did it, we did it really effectively."

"The good thing for me is as well that when we turned the ball over, we looked after it brilliantly. We looked from a deeper position, we looked like a brilliant counter-attacking team.

"We had an absolute masterclass from Laurence Shankland in terms of leading the line. He was ably supported by everybody behind him, everybody played well today.

"But in terms of securing the ball and looking after it, his yardage will be through the roof as it always is and sometimes I feel Lawrence runs a bit too much for his team and he's trying to do that job and do that job. We needed him just to make sure that he was at first contact.

"Him and [Claudio] Braga as a pairing were outstanding in terms of giving us life and giving us a spark and giving us confidence and that kind of swagger at the top end of the pitch. And everybody joins in on the back of that, so it was a brilliant performance.

Subs make a big difference

"I thought 1-0 at half-time was slightly harsh on us, I thought we'd maybe done enough to maybe go in with a second goal. And we spoke at half-time about nobody can win here with a 45-minute performance, it has to be a 90-minute-plus performance.

"I thought we got that in the main, other than maybe a 5-10 minute spell, we were in about 60-65 minutes. We didn't quite get our distances right on that far side. Big Oisin [McEntee] was struggling with his foot and it kind of stiffened up a wee bit at half-time.

"And Gassama off the left was causing one or two wee moments of anxiety. But once we made the changes, and obviously the Rangers changed shape, we negated that and it's good to have the answers like Michael [Steiwender] and Jamie [McCart] on the bench.

"When Kingsley goes off, he's a bit of a cramp and it wasn't a sub we wanted to make. It was again a wee bit of a re-jigging, but I thought we looked like a proper counter-attack team after that. [Elton] Kabangu was outstanding when he came on, he was exactly what we needed at that time. And the second goal obviously gives us a bit of oxygen and it makes things so much more difficult for the Rangers after that."

McInnes was asked if he has empathy for the situation Martin finds himself in, with many Rangers fans calling for him to quit.

“More than a bit,” McInnes said. A lot. I didn't like that today. It's so unfair on the manager there. I don't like it at all. He is a fine man. He's a fine manager. When clubs, especially clubs this size, when results don't always come, it's more than just the manager for me. That's tough on him.

“It's early on in the season. He's a new manager. If we were still sitting towards the bottom end of the table and integrating loads of players and trying to implement what we want to do, you'd be asking for that sort of understanding.

“As managers, that's all we ask for. He's a fine manager, as I said, and I didn't enjoy that part of it at all. I enjoyed my team, but it was hard not to ignore that. It was hard not to have empathy. Of course we would.”