Hearts reaction: McInnes hails trio that showed 'everything' and lands 'honest' Claudio Braga verdict

Goals from Braga, Lawrence Shankland and Alexandros Kiziridis sealed a comfortable win for Hearts, as the Gorgie faithful celebrated the career of much-loved goalkeeper Craig Gordon with a special testimonial clash against his former side.

The Portuguese striker’s fourth goal in five games, Hearts’ summer arrival from Aalesunds FK headed home superbly in the 10th minute before dropping the ‘siuuu’ celebration made more iconic by his fellow countryman Cristiano Ronaldo.

“He's a boy who's so willing to work,” said McInnes. “He's desperate to please. He's also got the quality to go in the back of that. But with that quality, there's a real honesty. He's desperate to do well in a Hearts shirt. He's living his best life when he signed here. He couldn't be any happier. I think that plays out on the pitch, to be honest. He's really embraced us so quickly. The fans will really take to him if he keeps scoring goals, first and foremost. But even aside from his goal, his work rate and his link-up play has been very good.”

Asked if he enjoyed his celebration, McInnes said: “Truthfully, no, but it's a bit of fun, isn't it? And the kids, the support will like it, and the supporters will anticipate that now. And hopefully we hear that a lot more. I think every time he does it, he gets fined, mind you, by the boys. But hopefully we can hear it a lot more. He's not the biggest striker, but he gets on the end of things brilliant.

“I've been so happy with the pre-season as a whole, from obviously the first day back at testing, when we came back. Players have been fully committed, fully motivated. It played out really in that performance. You come through the various training and put the demand on them through the hard work.”

McInnes also hailed the work of his midfield trio, who controlled large portions of the game against Sunderland’s midfield three that included more than £50million’s worth of talent.

“They were everything you would have wanted and a bit more,” said McInnes. “I thought the midfield three, [Calem] Nieuwenhof and [Blair] Spittal, obviously Calem coming off and Blair [Spittal] going on, but [Cammy] Devlin and [Oisin] McEntee were as good as they've been. We were pretty secure.

“I don't know if Zander [Clark] had too much to do in that sense. The clean sheet is as pleasing as the outcome. The outcome, as I say, is a brilliant result. They're a team that are used to winning and they've come up from the EFL Championship for a reason, because they're good players.

“It was important for us, despite us being ahead of them in their preparation, clearly, to try and take a step forward and not be cowed by playing against good players, but almost to take that challenge on. We're not going to get carried away because we're clearly ahead of Sunderland in terms of the preparation. But beating Sunderland 3-0, you've got to take the positives for that.”

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