Hearts plot big January after slaying Rangers as Derek McInnes makes 'stronger' prediction

The bullish Hearts manager praised his side for “dealing with” the latest major challenge. Although McInnes has been careful to avoid making any great claims about Hearts’ championship aspirations, it’s getting more difficult to avoid the subject now.

Hearts ensured Rangers remain title long shots with a 2-1 win at Tynecastle thanks to first-half goals from Stuart Findlay and skipper Lawrence Shankland. Rangers substitute Youssef Chermiti scored what proved a consolation goal in the dying moments although Bojan Miovski did have a goal ruled out just nine minutes in.

Hearts have a six-point lead at the top

At what is almost the halfway stage, Hearts are where they deserve to be at the top of the Premiership. They are six points in front of Celtic, who, following their 3-1 win over Aberdeen, still have a game in hand. Rangers, meanwhile, trail 12 points behind. McInnes isn’t resting on any laurels.

“We need to get stronger,” he said. “The performances need to improve. As the games go on, each games will become, well, hopefully they’ll become bigger than the last one. I want us to be relevant. I don't want us just to see out a season and think of what could have been.

“I actually just want us to keep playing important games,” he added. “As we go along, I expect others to improve. I think there's a lot of good teams in the league.

“There's probably us and maybe Motherwell who are really punching above our weight through the league. We're really encouraged about where we've come from last season to this season. We've taken huge steps forward. That's a testament to everyone at the club, from the board, the supporters, the players and staff, where everybody's just working for the same thing. We do need to improve. We need to be smart when we're working recruitment.

Hearts want a successful January

“We need to come out of January stronger again,” he added. “But the players and myself, we all need to get better as the season goes along.”

Hearts are already making significant statements. This was a fourth successive league victory over the Old Firm, the first time any team has managed this since 1985.

“No one could deny us a win a there,” McInnes insisted. “I thought we were strong. The players turned up again. There's always the first question people would aim at you if you don't win a game like this: Aye, but can you win the big games when it really matters, when the question is asked of you?

“Every game is a big game, same three points. But we've dealt with it. People say the bigger the game, the bigger the performance. Once again, we delivered a big performance.”

‘I expected us to win today’

McInnes admits he knows the fans are already getting excited. Hearts’ next two games are the Edinburgh derby at Easter Road and at home against Livingston, the current bottom club. They prevailed against Rangers despite losing defender Craig Halkett in the run-up. The manager expects him to be back for the Hibs game although Frankie Kent deputised well until a mix-up with goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow allowed Chermiti to score at the death.

“I expected us to win today,” said McInnes. “I did. I expected us to win today. We're exactly where we want to be. But I expected it to be tough and it was tough. Rangers have got a lot of talent.

“I keep hearing about how poor other teams are. But our points tally is exactly where it should be for a team who are top of the league. People seem to think that Hearts are only top of the league because of the failings of others.

"We're just concentrating on ourselves. We've still got that fight to improve. I genuinely feel we're going to have to improve if we're going to make it the season we want it to be.”