Ageu, Islam Chesnokov and Rogers Mato Hearts updates emerge as 'danger' wrestled with amid clamour for minutes

Hearts head coach Derek McInnes insists he has to be give Ageu, Islam Chesnokov and Rogers Mato the best chance of Tynecastle success, as they look to build match sharpness.

Midfielder Ageu has dealt with injury issues at Hearts since arriving from Santa Clara and has played just 78 minutes across five Premiership games this season. Attackers Chesnokov and Mato meanwhile are building up match sharpness and fitness after their arrivals, and were not included in last week’s defeat at St Mirren, with Hibs up next at Tynecastle for the league leaders.

There is a desire from many to see three highly-rated recruits in action more often and McInnes is keen to have them ready to go too. That said, he also wants to give the trio a fair shot at making an impact, rather than throwing them in undercooked. McInnes said when asked if Chesnokov and Mato returning would allow him to go with two out and out wingers: “Yeah, I'd like to. I get the clamour for these players and people saying Ageu should be playing now and things like that. When you sign players you want them to be ready to play and there's no two ways about it.

Ageu, Islam Chesnokov and Rogers Mato Hearts update

“Chesnokov and Mato are both exciting players and I think they'll prove to be good players for us but I watch training I see what I see and it's two lads who their seasons finished in November. Mato obviously had the benefit of the AFCON tournament and training to prepare for that and then his involvement in that and I do think there's got to be an understanding that the change in the dynamic in terms of the type of football they're coming into is difficult enough coming straight from when they're fully up to speed rather than still maybe in that sort of little pre-season feel for them.

“So we've been working hard to get both lads up to speed. The good thing is both lads are aware of that, both lads understand that and both lads are totally throwing themselves into the work so they've been doing extra but we're hopeful that both of them are ready to have that part to play between now and the end of the season. Ageu had two days training ahead of Celtic and then this is the thing people assume as soon as they're on the bench they must be ready to play and that's the danger sometimes.

“Sometimes as a manager you've got to then look at the bigger good and say right maybe take them out and just try and give them that extra bit of work. Ageu has had wo weeks training and he's been out, he's not played a competitive game from the start for months. I don't even know what that would be seven, eight, nine months in Portugal so we've got to be fair to these boys as well. Both Mato and Chesnokov, while they've been playing, haven't been playing a lot of competitive football but sometimes you just need to get to the stage where you're seeing what you like in training and you just let them fly but you know I've got to be fair to them as well.”

Focus is on the Edinburgh derby on Tuesday before a trip to Rangers afterwards. Hibs defeated Hearts last time out at Easter Road but McInnes’ side won the last derby at Tynecastle earlier this season. McInnes added: "There’s nothing that's harder than a derby defeat. You know that and that's the way it should be.

Derek McInnes on Hearts vs Hibs

“We've got 13 Cup Finals left, but every game against your local rivals should feel like a cup final. I know regardless of where Hibs and Hearts are in the league, whether it's a bottom six fixture or whether it’s an end of season game or whatever, it should still have that kind of cup Final feel to it.

“We were disappointed with ourselves at Easter Road. We lost goals we should never have lost. It's unusual for us because we don't normally lose too many goals in a game, in isolation. For us, we still showed the competitive side. We nearly had something for the game. But we gave ourselves too much to do and I'm just disappointed that it was a bad day for us that day at Easter Road. We see how they celebrate and all the rest of it. It's up to us to try and make sure we come out the other end of this one.

“I think sometimes you've just got to expect similar when it's the same manager and you're in February and it's the same manager you've got an idea of how teams play by this time. They will try and engage with their strikers early and obviously they've got that extra striker and different type of striker to Kieron Bowie but they'll support quickly on the sides they'll try and put balls in the box from their wing backs and they'll sink back into their shape and let you have a lot of the ball and then try and hit you on transitions.

“While there might be some change of personnel and there was a few changes in personnel the other night, it's good to get a look at their new signings, but equally I don't really see too much change in the emphasis on how they want to play and whether they go with an extra midfielder against us or whether they stick with our three up.”