Hearts boss Derek McInnes says team have more gears to find after dramatic derby win over Hibs

Derek McInnes believes his table-topping Hearts side have yet to hit top gear and still have plenty scope for improvement.

The Jambos kept up their stirring start to the William Hill Premiership campaign when Craig Halkett’s stoppage-time goal secured a 1-0 home win over Edinburgh rivals Hibernian.

Despite pulling clear of champions Celtic with six wins and a draw from their seven matches so far, McInnes remained in no mood to get carried away amid the hype building around his side.

“We have been good enough so far to win games, but you have to be honest, a lot of the games have been tight,” he stressed. “We’re not blowing teams away 4-0.

“I know last week we had a strong convincing win (3-0 against Falkirk), but this Scottish Premiership is so tight and there’s not a lot between a lot of teams.

“If you can get back-to-back wins, never mind four (in a row), you can quickly make some hay with that and that’s where we’re at, so long may it continue. But we’ve got to recognise that we’re going to have to keep improving.

“Everybody’s so desperate for success at Hearts, but there’s work to be done here.

“We were a bottom-six team last season and it’s not just a flick of a switch that makes things better. We’re not all that unless we continue to work and try to improve.”

McInnes, who was able to bolster his squad with the aid of Jamestown Analytics, is excited by the fact he still has big players to add to the mix in the weeks and months ahead.

“We’ve got players to come back, we’ve got a few injured, we’ve got a few sitting in the stand today, we’ve got good players, so it shows you the depth, we’ve got,” he said.

“Ageu (Hearts’ record signing) should probably be back for Kilmarnock, Frankie Kent will be back for Celtic, we’ve got Islam Chesnokov arriving in January, so there’s already a bit more beef to the squad.

“I think we can get improvements from signings and from availability of players.”

Hibs were left to lament a sixth-consecutive league match without victory and David Gray knows his side must use the international break to ensure they get back on track in their next match at home to Livingston.

“It’s difficult right now and it’s going to hurt for a long time because of the manner of the goal at the very end, who it’s against, how that feels and the fact you’ve not got a game straight away to put that right,” said the Easter Road boss.

“International players will go away, so the group will be split up a little bit, but it just means the ones that are left over will be working exceptionally hard.

“One thing I’ve got is a group that’s really hard-working, a really honest and humble group of boys that are really hurting at the moment.

“It’s not through a lack of effort. It’s been fine margins many times this season. But we also need to take responsibility to make sure we improve and that work starts straight away on the training pitch.”