SPFL Premiership leaders are now seven points clear

Derek McInnes admitted he is not hopeful that Hearts will sign a new striker before Monday’s transfer deadline. After Saturday’s convincing 3-0 win at nine-man Dundee United, the Tynecastle head coach stressed he did not want to get fans too excited about a fifth signing of the January window.

Hearts have signed Dutch right-back Jordi Altena, Kazakh winger Islam Chesnokov, on-loan midfielder Marc Leonard and Ugandan winger Rogers Mato this month. They would like another centre-forward if possible but are determined not to be held to ransom by clubs inflating fees or players demanding big wages.

“I’m not hopeful, no. I’d like to, if I could, but I don’t think it looks likely,” said McInnes when asked if he thought he would get one more signing. “I think we’ve hit the post a couple of times and tried to get one or two things done, but I think it’s just going to run away from us. Such is life. We’ve got good players here. I said that if the window closes, what we’ve got is what we’re signed for.”

Landry Kabore scored twice allied to an Alexandros Kyziridis penalty as Hearts moved seven points clear at the top of the Premiership with victory at Tannadice. “I think all the players tonight contributed. You’ve seen one or two coming back as well,” said McInnes. “Sabah Kerjota was on the pitch. A lot of boys who would like more minutes. Sometimes you’ve got to rely on the ones that are in the building, and obviously Kabore is one that’s stepped up.

“We’ve got Marc Leonard, who’s been outstanding for us in the two games he’s played, and Jordi Altena at full-back. We’ve been really pleased with what we’ve managed to get in the window. Good work done by the club. Sometimes you can’t get everything you want, but we’ll keep going. We’ll keep chapping the door and see if there’s anything that lands for us. Normally, you know what it’s like, the transfer window really heats up in the last 24 hours. You just never know.

“But I don’t want to give too much encouragement to anybody, or for the Hearts fans. I don’t see anything happening for us.”

United saw two players sent off - Amar Fatah and Panutche Camara - alongside first-team coach Dave Bowman on a controversial night. McInnes, though, was pleased with Hearts’ professionalism. “Yeah, really pleased. We thought ahead of the game it was going to be a tough match for us. Obviously, it’s been a long day waiting for this to come round,” he commented.

“There was obviously a wee bit of doubt about the pitch, but credit to everyone at Dundee United to get the game on. The pitch was difficult, but despite that I thought we settled in the game really well. I thought Marc Leonard in particular ran the game for us in there. We went with the three midfielders tonight because we anticipated a lot of second balls and the game being a bit scrappy. But I actually thought we moved the ball really well.

“I thought our full-backs were quite pivotal in the early part of it. Obviously, the combination on the side with Harry Milne for Kabore’s first goal gets us on our way. I think Kabore, Claudio Braga and Kiziridis gave us really good moments. The second goal comes with a penalty. Obviously, we were so far away from it we thought it was just a free-kick into the box. But having seen it again, Kyzi steps up and scores.

“We were kind of in charge of the game, I felt. Obviously, the big bearings were the sendings-off. It was important in the message at half-time just to stay calm, stay disciplined, stay in charge of the game. Thankfully, we managed to get our clean sheet and do all that. We asked for a third goal and got it, which was really pleasing. Other than [Zac] Sapsford’s chance, the header from about 10 to 12 yards, we kind of kept Dundee United away from our goal.

“We’ve seen ourselves when we’ve gone down to 10 men, you can still get results. When it went down to nine men, it becomes so much more difficult for Dundee United’s lads. I thought the lads who stayed on the pitch for them were terrific with their work, and we had to work for any opportunities. We scored our third goal and we could maybe have added to that but I would have taken 3–0 all day long before the game because we know Dundee United are a capable team.”

Celtic and Rangers are due to play on Sunday so, although Hearts are now seven points clear at the top of the Premiership, their lead can be cut quickly. “I just always assume when teams run about us that they’re going to win. I think you’ve just got to go into your own game thinking it’s a game that we should look to try and win, home and away,” explained McInnes.

“When you see the Hearts support — I don’t know what it was, 3,500 or whatever — you run out to that in the warm-up and it feels like a big game right away. Every game is becoming that bit bigger, so we’ve just got to take care of our own business. I don’t think you can ever depend on anybody else to do you favours. So I just assume the teams round about us will win. It’s incumbent on us to try and win and do our job well.

“We did do our job well tonight. I thought Kabore led the line well. Obviously, a lot has been made recently about key players being out injured. You’re looking for somebody to take over that goal-scoring threat, and Kabore stepped up tonight. Two great goals, he led the line brilliantly. He was ably supported by a really strong Hearts performance tonight.”

Hearts will now prepare for a trip to St Mirren on Tuesday. “We’ll enjoy the night. We’re back in tomorrow. We’ll train the lads that need to train, recover the ones that need to recover, and get ready for another tough one on Tuesday night. This was always going to be a tough run of fixtures. Dundee United away and St Mirren away are traditionally difficult games for any team.”