Derek McInnes hails Hearts for showing their steel to grind out Livingston win

Derek McInnes hailed league leaders Hearts for showing their steely side to grind out a 1-0 home win over struggling Livingston as they moved six points clear at the top of the William Hill Premiership.

Craig Halkett’s 18th-minute header, from a brilliant delivery by debutant Jordi Altena, looked like it might be the signal for the floodgates to open against a Lions side without a win since August 9.

But after Hearts spurned a host of chances to add to their lead during a dominant first half, Livi came back into the match after the break and threatened to grab an equaliser as tension grew among the home support.

“It’s a brilliant three points in the cold light of day, going six points clear, getting a clean sheet and a brilliant goal from Halkett which shouldn’t be forgotten about,” said McInnes. “It’s an unbelievable header.

“We’ve got to be pleased with a lot of what was on show today. I think it shows exactly how difficult this league is at times.

“On paper, it’s top v bottom. We had such a dominant first-half performance but there’s a consequence every time you miss a chance and don’t get that second goal.

“Livingston have a brilliant character about them, brilliant determination, their manager got a hold of them at half-time and they were a different team second half.

“Us at our best today, we looked like a team who should be at the top of the league, really great to watch and us in our poorer moments in the game, the gap was too big.

“But there’s not a team who’s had a really good league campaign who don’t grind out 1-0s. Sometimes 1-0s are the best ones. And what we needed to do was make sure we never made a mistake and certainly not get punished for it and we never really made any mistakes.

“The enjoyment doesn’t come from the second half. There’s no enjoyment where there’s still work to do at 1-0. But the enjoyment comes with the three points at the end.”

Livi remain four points adrift at the bottom after their winless run extended to 19 games in all competitions but manager David Martindale was pleased with the response his side produced after their dismal 3-1 home defeat to Dundee United on Tuesday.

“Folk might look at that and go, ‘Livingston weren’t great the first 30 minutes’, but I’d caveat that with, ‘I thought Hearts were fantastic the first 30’,” he said.

“On Tuesday night, we let ourselves down badly. I asked questions of the squad and of individuals and I think they answered that today.

“I think they showed the fans, they showed me, they showed the people at the club that we’re up for a fight. And they also showed today there’s enough quality within this group to make sure we start picking points up very soon.”