Hearts' Derek McInnes wins two in a row with the latest SPFL Premiership manager award

Hearts played only two games during September but victories over Rangers and Falkirk were enough to earn Derek McInnes the Scottish Premiership Glen’s Manager of the Month award. The Tynecastle head coach achieved his second successive gong from the Scottish Professional Football League having claimed the award in August.

The 54-year-old has overseen a strong start to the new league campaign, with Hearts top of the Premiership and two points clear of champions Celtic. They have won six and drawn one of their seven games so far. Two wins during September were sufficient for McInnes to achieve Manager of the Month after beating Rangers 2-0 at Ibrox and Falkirk 3-0 at Tynecastle.

The recognition completes a very productive month for the Gorgie club. Captain Lawrence Shankland won Premiership Player of the Month for September and winger Alexandros Kyziridis earned the Goal of the Month award for his stunning strike against Falkirk.

McInnes was keen to credit everyone at Hearts for his own award. “It’s nice to be recognised for this award again but it really is a team effort here, which has been highlighted by Lawrence Shankland and Alexandros Kyziridis also winning awards,” he told the official Hearts website. “It feeds into the positivity at the club. We’ve had a strong start and we hope to maintain it as we head into some big games.”

As international fortnight heads towards a close, players are slowly returning to clubs and Hearts are stepping up preparations for league fixtures resuming this weekend. They travel to Kilmarnock on Saturday for a 5.45pm kick-off eager to maintain their unbeaten Premiership start. Subsequent matches at home to Celtic and away to St Mirren also provide difficult tests before the end of the month.

McInnes endeared himself to supporters in Gorgie with a brand of attacking football, resulting in positive scorlines, late drama and 16 goals scored by Hearts in seven league fixtures. They are the league’s top scorers to date but the manager has stressed no-one at Riccarton will be allowed to rest on early-season laurels.

McInnes took charge at Tynecastle Park in May this year after leaving Kilmarnock. In total, there were 11 signings completed during the summer transfer window in order to strengthen the Hearts first-team squad. They finished seventh in last year’s Premiership and, combined with £9.86m of investment from Tony Bloom, are determined to return to a challenging position this season.

A large and competitive first-team squad is driving standards each day and McInnes outlined the results. “We've got boys bursting to play,” he said. “People are sitting on the bench hoping they get the shout to play. Nobody is happy to be there, everybody wants to play their part. We had loads of positive performances and outcomes from bounce games and training.

“I see training every day and we train with motivation. We train professionally all the time. Nobody is sitting feeling sorry for themselves when they aren't in the team. We have a good thing going at the minute. We have to recognise that there is so much hard work ahead of us, but it's work we intend to do.”

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