Huge St Mirren win at Tynecastle takes Jambos six points clear in the Premiership

Hearts head coach Derek McInnes revealed that Rogers Mato is desperate to get to Tynecastle Park after agreeing a pre-contract for a three-year deal. The Ugandan winger has been the subject of controversy with his North Macedonian club, FK Vardar, claiming they were selling him to MLS club Sporting Kansas City. However, that will not happen and he will head to Edinburgh once his Vardar contract expires this summer.

McInnes spoke for the first time about talks he had with Mato late last year. After seeing his team beat St Mirren 2-0 with 10 men at Tynecastle Park, the manager also discussed injuries to midfielder Cammy Devlin and defender Stephen Kingsley. He explained that Beni Baningime was in tears after being sent off 14 minutes into the match, which Hearts won with goals from skipper Lawrence Shankland and substitute Tomas Magnusson.

Asked if he was confident Mato would become a Hearts player after Vardar’s claims, McInnes replied: “Yeah, we've got the boy’s signature. We didn't have it two days ago, and there was a bit of pressure on the lad coming from different places. But he's been as good as his word. I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago, before he headed off to the AFCON [with Uganda], and the boy knew everything about us. He couldn't wait to come here, and good on him.

“That commitment has been brilliant, and I'm delighted to get him. I think he's a brilliant young talent. I think he's going to do well. It’s great work by the club, identifying him and getting the deal done. I was hoping we could get it all done before the AFCON, and I stressed that to the club, because obviously it's a showcase for these lads. But we put a lot of trust into what was happening, and thankfully that trust has paid dividends. I'm looking forward to getting to work with him.”

Hearts may try to sign Mato this month in a quick transfer but that depends on Vardar’s willingness to do business. “I don't know,” said McInnes. “We don't control that, but it would be nice if we could. We could do a couple of signings, if we can, to help us. We've got a couple of injuries and we'll see where we are. I don't know if that can be done, but certainly if it can be done, we'll try it.”

Devlin took a heavy knock late in the St Mirren game and limped off, with McInnes admitting he is struggling. “I don't think it looks good at the minute but we'll see how he is,” said the manager. “He’s clearly a tough one. He wanted to walk off or limp off. He didn't want to a stretcher. We'll see how it is in the morning.”

Kingsley missed Sunday’s win over Dundee - also achieved with 10 men after Hearts goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow was red-carded - as well as the St Mirren victory because of a groin problem. McInnes explained that he will be out for several weeks. “Not good. It’s a 2C, which is bizarre, to be honest, considering what it was. It's maybe about six weeks, I think,” he said.

McInnes praised his players after playing so long with 10 men and still winning the game to stretch their lead to six points at the top of the Premiership table. “Fifty points at this stage is remarkable. I like the fact that we are in the same company as Rangers and Celtic. We're actually competing there. This time last year we were a bottom-six club, scrambling to try and get top six, so there have been huge improvements from everybody.

“It's been good identification. It's been brilliant togetherness and spirit. We're still paying hearts wages. We're not paying what Rangers and Celtic can pay. We don't have the spending power of those clubs, but what we have is so much going for us. We've got smart work from boardroom down, good types in the dressing room, and we believe that we are there on merit. By the time we play Celtic it will be four months at the top of the league. It's not purple patch, as I said. It's something substantial, something more than that. I believe we can still keep winning games. How many we can win between now and the end of the season, every game will be tough, as you saw again tonight.”

Assessing the game, the Hearts manager acknowledged his team’s resilience after Baningime was left in tears by his red card. He was dismissed for serious foul play after a challenge on St Mirren’s Roland Idowu. “There was an energy about us that I liked right from the start,” said McInnes. “I think this game, in the context of this week, was always a big game. It was the third game in that little mini-target we set before we play Celtic next Sunday. ‘Can we win those three games and make sure that we're still at the top of the league before we play them?’

“I thought we looked like a team who were confident with our work, were just desperate to get to work. Then Beni got sent off, the boys distraught. I don't think there's a more popular boy in our dressing-room than Beni and he was in tears. We said at half-time we were going to have to dig him out here. We were going to have to do it for ourselves again. I think the experiences of Sunday perversely probably helped us.

“It was a different scenario because it was 75 minutes to go and we didn't have anything to hang on to. We had to get that moment, we had to still find that bit of quality to get something to hang on to. It was a long time coming but we had a few good opportunities prior to that. We got him in at half-time, we spoke again about what we needed to do. We can take the belief and confidence from the weekend and believe that we'll always create chances here at Towncastle. The crowd will stay with you, they'll feed off you if you can just give us that encouragement.

“When the goal did come, what a goal it was. Nobody better than your captain to really step up to it. It was a good bit of play and then we had something to hang on to. I think then the belief probably went right through the roof for the players. Thankfully, we got the second one with Magnusson getting on the end of that. I thought it was a blow for St Mirren. I think they looked a bit shell-shocked at what was actually happening.

“I'm not going to be smart enough to think it was comfortable, but when you actually look back on it, we kept their dangers and their threats majority away from our goal. When Craig [Gordon] was called upon, he made a big save for us. It’s brilliant for the lads, couldn't be more pleased for them. Couldn't be more proud of them. It's not easy, we're not going to be able to keep winning games with getting men sent off. But we've dug ourselves out a couple of holes in the last couple of games. It shows what can be done. You're always learning about your players. It's a good reference for us if it happens again, but it better not happen again. You can’t keep doing it, so it's good on them.”