Derek McInnes spoke to the media to reflect on Aberdeen’s 2-1 victory over Hearts at Tynecastle. The victory tightened the grip on second place with a nine point lead with just three matches remaining.
“It was a big three points for us. There was a lot on the game for both teams with Hearts still pushing for Europe and it was an emotional day here. There was a good atmosphere and we really got after them from the first whistle. Hearts have got some good players and for us to be 24 points clear of them says a lot about the good work that everybody is doing at our club, not just the boys on the pitch.
“Today it fell to the boys on the pitch to get three points and I thought we were magnificent with our work and we got our reward for it.
“We were delighted to go in 1-0 up at half-time but what we did say was to go out in the second half and not give the Hearts fans any encouragement because if they see something to hang onto they will get behind their team.
“When the equaliser came the response was excellent. O’Connor came in and was excellent, really aggressive with his work to get his head on it and the winning goal. The change was forced upon us as Peter got injured unfortunately. Both those boys haven’t played a lot recently but they played a huge part in winning today’s game.
“It was a great result for the club today, to get 70 points again for the third season in a row, we are the first team in the league to do that outwith Celtic and Rangers. It’s really important for us because when we got to 70 odd points the last few years people were saying it’s because Rangers aren’t in the division. A lot of people thought that we would get pushed aside so for us to get to 70 points again and take a huge step towards getting second spot again says so much about the honesty of the players.
“It was summed up in one phase of play with two minutes to go. Logan is up the pitch and McLean gets caught on the ball and he makes an 80 yard run sprint to save the danger. The honesty is ripping out of us. We want to go into the cup final after having some top performances and we were shy of that but we were relentless in getting the three points.
“We’ve had a lot of question marks over us, every other week Rangers were getting touted for second place and Rangers players were getting rolled out for press and we kept quiet and done our work. We need to be doing so much well, recruitment, medical, video analysis, scouting, preparation, everything. We are all working hard to get the maximum out of these players so as a club we should give ourselves a moment to reflect on what has been a fantastic season but we want to make it even better over the next two or three weeks.
“Celtic are playing with such confidence, we just want to win the game if we can. I think the last couple of games we have got close to them, everyone remembers the League Cup Final and I understand that. We were a shadow of ourselves and it was far too simplistic for Celtic on the day.
“Ryan Jack has a slight tear in the groin area, I can’t lie it’s a worry. He usually recovers well but it’s a worry. We can’t carry too many injuries and we haven’t had too many this season, we have had to carry one or two but that’s about it.
“Adam is the one that follows up and expects Hamilton to parry out in front of him. He is always on the move and anticipates it, that’s the difference between strikers and good goalscorers. It’s a good finish and that’s why he is so important to us.”
“Adam is the one that follows up and expects Hamilton to parry out in front of him. He is always on the move and anticipates it, that’s the difference between strikers and good goalscorers. It’s a good finish and that’s why he is so important to us.”
