Hearts reaction: 'Brilliant human', fans choking for heroes and midweek friendly plan after dramatic win

Findlay took five years to score four goals before joining Hearts on loan from Oxford United. He now has four goals in his first five games for the Edinburgh club after leaving Tannadice a hero. Lawrence Shankland’s penalty put the visitors ahead, but United overhauled the deficit to lead 2-1 at the interval thanks to two Ivan Dolcek strikes. Findlay headed the equaliser and then the winner in the 94th minute to complete a dramatic comeback.

“I couldn't get him to a score a goal in Kilmarnock, now he can’t stop scoring,” smiled McInnes, who managed the player at Rugby Park. “Stuart's a brilliant human, he's a brilliant boy. I knew first and foremost he's going to do his job well defensively. I think he does that week in, week out. But it's actually nice to see him getting a wee bit of a chance to shine and getting a wee bit of applause from that side of it. You see the supporters, they're choking for heroes, they're desperate to chant their name and to have that adulation.

“Stuart's job is to try and stop the other team's better players and he does that time and time again, but it's great for him to score goals. I like the fact we're building a wee bit of a reputation on set plays, because he was involved in this penalty kick as well. In saying that, I'd still like us to score more from open play, and that's something we need to look at as well. Coming from behind, you need people to stand up and Stuart normally does that and it's great for him to be involved in all three goals.”

Findlay was pulled down for Shankland’s penalty on a day when Hearts battled until the last kick for three points. They have now won both of their opening Premiership games after beating Aberdeen 2-0 at Tynecastle last Monday. This Tuesday, they will play a bounce game against Championship side Ross County to give game time to players who have not featured much in competitive action so far.

“Yeah, we got offered the game and we took it,” said McInnes. “Again, it was more for the attacking players, but Beni [Baningime] can play, [Tomas] Magnusson can play, [Calem] Nieuwenhof I think, will play all being well. So it gives us those midfield options where we're a bit stretched defensively.

“At the minute we don't have loads of options, but the B team have got a game on Tuesday and but we'll, we'll make it work. And I think for [Pierre Landry] Kabore, [Sabah] Kerjota, Kyzi [Alexandros Kyziridis] and James Wilson, it will be good to just get them some minutes.”