Derek McInnes compares leaders Hearts to Old Firm rivals after beating Hibernian

Derek McInnes says William Hill Premiership leaders Hearts showed the “desire” of title-winning Celtic and Rangers teams of the past as he scoffed at gripes about the quality of his side’s 1-0 Edinburgh derby win over Hibernian.

Substitute Tomas Magnusson knocked in Harry Milne’s cross from the left in the 88th minute to settle a tense, hard-fought showdown and spark wild celebrations inside Tynecastle.

It was enough to send Hearts six points clear of Rangers, who play their game in hand away to Motherwell on Wednesday, and nine ahead of Celtic, who have two games in hand.

McInnes did not care a jot about lack of finesse on show in a match he described as “enthusiastic, fully charged, full of commitment”.

“The game was frantic from the get-go, it didn’t really settle at all,” said the Hearts boss. “I thought Hibs were slightly better than us in the first half just because I thought they had a bit more threat than us.

“I thought we were better in the second half without being brilliant, no team really looked like scoring.

“But I liken it to how many successful Celtic or Rangers teams just get the job done, win 1-0, down the road and nobody really cares about the performance too much. Our supporters aren’t caring about it at the end there.

“Of course we want to play better, but derbies are just about winning and it’s not always about playing pretty football. It’s not the most technical team that wins a derby all the time, it’s the team with desire.

“I’d rather talk about Harry Milne’s desire to get to the byline, then the quality of the cross and the desire of Magnusson to make the box and run off his man and get it in the net.

“I got a question back there from somebody about the quality of the game and all the rest of it. I couldn’t give a… Honestly, go away, forget it. Do you think our fans are bothered with that?”

Hibs boss David Gray lamented his side’s late lapse as he felt they merited at least a point.

“I think there’s nothing in the game in terms of, we restricted Hearts to very little,” he said. “Their set-pieces have always got that threat, they force you to defend.

“I thought we defended them for 90 minutes, switched off for one wide free-kick, didn’t stop the cross and that’s what cost us the game.

“I’d have liked to have seen a little bit more quality at times. There were a couple of moments in the game where the final pass let us down.

“Certainly as the game went on, I felt like if anybody was going to win, it was going to be us, I thought we had good elements of control in the game.
But we’re going home with nothing, which is what makes it even more frustrating.”