Kris Boyd believes Hearts will remain in the Scottish Premiership title race despite Celtic closing the gap at the top of the table to just three points.
Derek McInnes’ side lost 3-2 to Hibernian in the 150th Anniversary of the Edinburgh Derby, leaving the Hearts manager frustrated with his side’s failure to get the basics right.
This gave Celtic the chance to halve their lead at the top of the table with a game in hand, and they were able to secure an upset 4-2 win away to bottom-placed Livingston.
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Jamie McGrath gives Hibernian the lead in derby against Hearts
Game advantage put the initiative in the hands of Wilfried Nancy’s side, but Boyd is not counting Hart out yet and believes they can regain control of the title race in their next match.
“There were a lot of fundamental things that let Hearts down today. Derek (McInnes) will be furious about that,” Boyd said.
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Hibernian’s Josh Campbell wins 2-0 Edinburgh derby against Hearts
“But his team still sit at the top of the table and they now have their next opponents lined up with Livingston, Dundee, St Mirren and Falkirk in the cup and Celtic at home.
“Three of them are at home as well, so they have a chance to get back at it.
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Kieron Bowie scores Hibernian’s third goal against Hearts
“The Tynecastle crowd will be rooting for them. They know what they have done and they know they can win football games in this league.
“As I said last week, I don’t think they’re going to leave. Really not. They have plenty of quality there. It was a bad day, but it was emphasized even more because they are our rivals.”
“For Derek McInnes, he’s going to be depressed and frustrated, but he’s not going to let it (keep him depressed).”
McInnes praises great season despite Hibs defeat
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Hearts head coach Derek McInnes admitted his team failed to do basic things in the derby against Hibs, and also spoke about the Scottish Premiership title race.
Defeat to Hibs may have eased Hearts’ lead at the top of the table, but McInnes was more disappointed by the nature of his side’s failure to beat their local rivals than by the impact it had on the table.
“There’s been a lot of applause for our attacking play and the goals we scored, but equally our defensive performance was very strong. We don’t usually concede that many goals,” McInnes told Sky Sports.
Lawrence Shankland regrets missed chance against Hibs
“You can’t come to Easter Road and expect to score three points to get something out of the game.
“If we lose two of the next 19 games, we’ll still achieve pretty much what we want to do. The players did a really good job. There’s going to be a lot of credit to them, like when we lost last month.”
“That’s fine. People say that, but we don’t really think that. We’re calm.”
“We start playing next week. Hopefully we can get a few wins and build some momentum and confidence again like we talked about. Two losses in 19 games is a good shot by our players, but we have to be honest today.”
McInnes later added that Hearts had earned their place at the top of the table by getting the basics right, and insisted the team would not overreact to defeat.
“We can be at the top of the league, not by being Barcelona, not by not being what we think we are, but by doing the basic things well in the game, and especially in the derby we need that,” added MacInnes.
“We’re not going to start losing everything at this point. We lost the game and we know why we lost the game.”
Nancy focused on rebuilding Celtic, not the title.
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Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy insists he wants “more control” over his team after their 4-2 win over Livingston
Despite a tough start to his time at Celtic, two wins in their last two games means Nancy’s side are in a strong position to pick up the game and regain control of the title race.
However, the new manager has refused to get involved in a race for the top spot, insisting that he is purely focused on rebuilding the club game by game.
Asked about closing the gap, Nancy told Sky Sports: “It was good for the players.”
“For me, nothing changes because I am more focused on work.Obviously, we are happy to be there.
Benjamin Nygren celebrates after scoring the equalizer against Celtic in Livingston
“It’s too early to say anything, but I’m happy that we were able to get a good result on a difficult pitch and in difficult conditions.
“We saw improvement in every game. I think we can be tougher today because I think we can do better. It’s part of the process. At times we were close to each other. It wasn’t easy because we were man-to-man all over the pitch. We found ways to create imbalances in certain moments.”
“Like I said, we could have improved our style a little bit more and felt fresher for the next game.”
