Derek McInnes won’t let Hearts dream about title despite key victory over Celtic

Derek McInnes insisted Celtic still hold all the aces as he stuck steadfastly to his policy of downplaying Hearts’ title chances after a convincing 3-1 victory over the ailing champions took his buoyant side eight points clear at the top of the William Hill Premiership.

The Jambos find themselves in uncharted territory, enjoying the size of lead no team outside Glasgow has held at any point during the past four decades of unbroken Old Firm dominance of the Scottish top flight.

McInnes felt his high-flying side “dealt with the game really well” after Dane Murray’s early own goal at a pumped-up Tynecastle was swiftly cancelled out by Celtic captain Callum McGregor’s equaliser before the hosts turned the screw early in the second half with an Alexandros Kyziridis strike and a Lawrence Shankland penalty.

“I genuinely don’t think anybody’s dreaming (within the dressing room),” said the Hearts boss, referring to the growing sense that his side can become the first outside Rangers or Celtic to win the Scottish title since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen triumphed in 1985.

“The games are coming thick and fast and I’m not looking beyond that. I get it and understand it (the title talk) because it’s unusual for any team to be eight points clear of a team like Celtic. But I’m well aware that Celtic are going to get better and improve. They’ve got the strength.

“Celtic spend millions, and they pay millions in wages, a lot more than we can ever do, so there’s a huge advantage they’ve got over us.

“So any advantage we had going into the game, being a bit fresher, maybe they’ve got a few injuries, but they, hands down, have got so many advantages over every other team in the league at the minute, including ourselves, so we are not focusing on Celtic.

“We’re not focusing on anybody other than ourselves. I can’t control what other teams will do, and what they spend.

“But I can concentrate on us trying to get better. We have just got to recognise that there’s work to be done here and we intend to do it well. I think there’s still improvement in us.

“We’ve got one or two things lined up for January, but we’ve got two months of football ahead of that. We just need to keep the fight going and keep improving.”

Celtic have already dropped 10 points in their nine league games and have lost each of their last two. While much of the focus has been on the board’s perceived lack of backing in the summer transfer window, manager Brendan Rodgers is now coming under fire from supporters.

“I’ve always taken responsibility,” he said. “There’s never been a time that I haven’t. When you’re the manager at Celtic, you’re responsible for the results, despite whatever else happens. So that responsibility is on me.”

Rodgers, who is missing key quartet Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alistair Johnston, Kelechi Iheanacho and Daizen Maeda through injury, is confident his side can still reel in Hearts.

“If we can find a consistent level of performance, then there’s absolutely no doubt we can make up the points difference,” he said. “Hearts have made a really good start.

“Our issues have been well documented, but we’re working very, very hard with limited time to work on the (training) field to find the solutions.

“They’ve obviously got one game a week, which is a big advantage. Of course, Derek will feel he can keep them up there, but it’s so early. Win, lose or draw the game today, we wouldn’t have been getting carried away with anything.”