Derek McInnes insists Premiership leaders Hearts are keeping feet on ground

Derek McInnes insisted there was no chance of anybody in the Hearts dressing room getting carried by their lofty status because there is “still a lot that can happen” in the William Hill Premiership title race.

The Jambos have been top of the table for more than five months and they tightened their grip on that position after Claudio Braga’s first-half goal secured a deserved 1-0 win over struggling Aberdeen.

The Tynecastle side have a healthy lead over each of Rangers, Celtic and Motherwell, and have arguably the most favourable run of fixtures of the four teams before the split.

“There’s loads of points to be won and still loads of points that can be lost,” stressed McInnes. “When you say it’s now nine games to go, it doesn’t seem a lot, but 27 points is still a lot.

“But for us it’s just a case of keep doing our job, don’t give too much encouragement (to the rivals).

“We know when we have a negative result everybody starts to question us, but we know we’re capable of winning games. As I’ve said from way back, our fight is with ourselves.

“The fight was to put in a good performance against Aberdeen, we demanded that of ourselves and I thought we got exactly that.

“With 27 points to play for, there’s still a lot that can happen, nobody’s getting carried away but it was a very important win.”

Blair Spittal, who has been thrust into Hearts’ midfield for the last two games amid a spate of injuries, earned praise from McInnes.

“He was very good,” said the manager. “He plays the right passes. He’s the guy that when the ball settles on him, he’ll play forward. The goal was a big part of that.

“He made two or three passes like that. His decision-making was first class and he followed on from another big performance against Falkirk.”

Hearts have this weekend off before travelling to Kilmarnock a week on Saturday.

McInnes expects Oisin McEntee to return for the trip to Rugby Park, while Cammy Devlin and Stephen Kingsley are expected back for the following match against Dundee.

Aberdeen are waiting to learn if Nicky Devlin will be fit for Wednesday’s visit from Celtic after the full-back came off worst in a clash with Hearts defender Jamie McCart. Devlin was booked for the challenge as he limped off.

“I don’t know yet,” said caretaker boss Peter Leven when asked if it was a serious issue. “He’s sore. I thought their play went a wee bit high after. I don’t know why Nicky got booked.”

Dons goalkeeper Per Kristian Bratveit missed the trip to Tynecastle.

“He felt his groin the other day,” said Leven. “We gave him up to the last minute, but he’ll hopefully not be too long.”

The Dons have taken just one point from their last five league games and Leven added: “We need to start picking up points. It’s nowhere near good enough.

“I need to take responsibility for that – the players as well.”