Derek McInnes namechecks three 'quality' Hearts players and the Jambos moment that almost wounded Kilmarnock

Derek McInnes knew the quality that a Hearts trio had - but he’s delighted his Kilmarnock side managed to grind out a gritty 1-0 win vs the Jambos.

It was a sobering afternoon for Tynecastle head coach Neil Critchley who was left stunned by a flat performance from his side. Less than 72 hours on from a Conference League loss away at Copenhagen, Hearts were defeated by a side near them in the table, and one who played most of the game with 10 men after Robbie Deas was sent off.

In the end, a Bruce Anderson penalty was enough to seal three Killie points. Yan Dhanda hit the bar for Hearts and McInnes reckons that’d have been hard to stomach for his team, who had more shots on target than the visitors despite being a man short. Alongside Liam Boyce and Blair Spittal, the Rugby Park boss knew of the quality those in maroon had, but is delighted with how his men worked for maximum rewards.

The result leaves Hearts bottom of the Premiership and their opponents sit eighth ahead of this weekend’s match in Gorgie with St Johnstone, but before that comes a Conference League finale in the league phase at home to Petrocub. McInnes said: "It was a really terrific effort from the players. Any time you go down to ten you need a top performance.

“We had to play the game a certain way. We had to stay in our shape. It's my job to give us the best chance of winning. When Bruce scored it gave us something to hold on to. The boys were just magnificent.

"We're having to work too hard, too often, because of the red cards, but there's only positives. We had to sacrifice Bruce at half-time, but he comes away as the match winner. No player likes to come off, but he proved he's dependable and gets his goal. It was a real team effort, the subs came on, picked up the pace of the game and did well.

"Good decisions have to be made when you go down to ten men. I know Yan Dhanda hits the bar at the end and he has that quality, he should be running onto a body there. Part of the reason we are playing a flat midfield is for that type of scenario with Liam Boyce coming on, and Blair Spittal’s ability.

“It was the one time he had a wee sight of our goal. That’d have been so harsh on us if it went in. We were due a bit of luck, no doubt about it. We had the most shots on target, even with ten men, and we had some real good moments. Sometimes you do scenarios with ten men in training for 20 minutes or so, and it's really about planting the seed in terms of decision making.

"To do it for 90 minutes was a monumental effort. Some three points are better than others, but that feels like a brilliant three points."