Exclusive:Derek McInnes' Hearts call and injury update for the biggest game of his managerial career at Celtic Park

Derek McInnes is calling on Hearts to throw everything at Celtic in an attempt to make Scottish football history this weekend. Avoiding defeat at Celtic Park on the season’s last day would see the Edinburgh club crowned champions for the first time since 1960, and head coach McInnes is urging his players to seize the moment.

Wednesday’s 3-0 victory over Falkirk leaves leaders Hearts one point ahead of Celtic at the top of the William Hill Premiership. The Parkhead side won 3-2 at Motherwell in midweek with a controversial 98th-minute penalty from Kelechi Iheanacho. That set up a dramatic final-day showdown in Glasgow in what will be the biggest game of McInnes’ 19-year managerial career.

He won the League Cup with Aberdeen in 2014, plus two second-tier titles with St Johnstone and Kilmarnock, but leading Hearts to the title would be by far his greatest achievement. He spoke to the Edinburgh News to outline what is required. Hearts beat Celtic 2-1 at Celtic Park in December and will not travel west aiming for a draw, even though that would be sufficient to win the league.

“I think there’s probably not a tougher game. Celtic Park is always a tough place to go and get a positive result,” said McInnes. “Obviously, we’ve done it already this season and we’re going to have to call on everything we’ve got - all the strength, all the mental strength, all the confidence, the fitness and everything else - to go and try and make it a positive afternoon for us.

“It’s set up brilliantly and I always anticipated that Celtic would win their game on Wednesday night, and I thought we would win. I’m delighted with the fact that we’ve done our job well, but as well as we’ve done in getting to 80 points and how good we’ve been this season, we’re going to have to do our job well again one more time to get what we want.”

McInnes was critical of Celtic’s late penalty award at Fir Park, labelling it “disgusting”. It came four days after Hearts saw two of their own penalty claims rejected at the same venue in a 1-1 draw with Motherwell. “It just feels, at times, like everything is against you and you’re fighting against it so much, but it’s 90 minutes,” added McInnes, mindful that Celtic have won all of their last seven matches in all competitions. Hearts, by comparison, have five wins and two draws from their last seven.

“Martin O’Neill has done a brilliant job with the form Celtic are in,” said the manager. “You’d expect Celtic, with what they’ve got and the resources they’ve got, to find a bit of form. Certainly, the form they’re in at the minute is form they’re more than capable of, as they’ve shown. But we’re in good form as well. I’m delighted with what the players have given us, particularly in the split and the post-split fixtures.

“We’ve been so strong with our performances and results and there’s been a lot on these games. There’s a lot of tension, a lot of pressure on the boys, but they’ve done remarkably well to be in a fight with Celtic into the last day. Given the difference in resources and everything else, it’s a huge effort from everybody at the club.”

McInnes spoke openly about the fact that Saturday will be the biggest day of his managerial life. “I think so, aye. Obviously, cup finals are great and there have been plenty of those, but this feels like a cup final for a league title. It has that cup final feel about it. Obviously, at Hampden it’s normally split, but you go into Celtic Park with 750 fans. There’s everything you need to contend with that, but it feels like a cup final for a league title.”

Hearts welcomed defender Harry Milne and midfielder Cammy Devlin back into their starting line-up against Falkirk. Devlin scored the second goal and Milne was substituted at half-time. Most importantly, both players came through the night unscathed. “Harry is fine. It was always going to be 45 minutes for him. He was good,” confirmed McInnes. “None of the lads who have picked up injuries and had to come in after not playing as much have ever let us down. I take a lot of comfort and confidence from that.

“We’ve managed to come through the game. We’ve spoken to the physios about it and it looks like everybody’s come through the game fine. Obviously, the big demand on us now is the turnaround from Wednesday to Saturday — an early kick-off after a late night. It’s a short turnaround, but we’ll do everything we can to get the boys as fresh as we can, try and pick the right team, and add a bit of freshness to the side as well. Then we’ll see where we go from there.

“The boys who didn’t start the match on Wednesday will train tomorrow, so they’ll do a bit of work. The others will do recovery, gym work, massages and everything like that. Then we’ll come in and do a little bit on Friday before travelling through to Glasgow and staying at the hotel on Friday night.”