‘To lose a goal from a set play with two minutes to go is pretty galling’ – McInnes

Hearts boss Derek McInnes believes his side’s refusal to “play forward” contributed to their third league defeat of the season, leaving an opportunity for Celtic and Rangers to close the gap to three points. Speaking at full-time, McInnes accepts that the first-half dismissal of Craig Halkett gave his side an immediate uphill battle. ‘I thought we caused our own problems. I think it is the third time in four games we’ve gone down to 10 men, which gives us a mountain to climb. ‘We were guilty of putting ourselves in a bit of a fankle, in a bit of a state, to cause the red card ‘We had two opportunities to play forward, and we refused to do it, and we ended up getting caught on it unnecessarily, so we’ve got to accept that part of it. ‘No complaints about the red card, and then you’ve got to try and do all you can. Everybody has to work a bit harder, we’re working harder in the dugout, just to try and give the lads a chance to stay in the game, and we almost did it.’ Miguel Freckleton’s 88th-minute winner seals St Mirren’s first league victory in seven games. McInnes believes his side could have dealt with the set piece in a better manner. ‘To lose a goal from a set play with two minutes to go is pretty galling, but again, we should still deal with that. ‘We can’t have a free header there in the middle of our goal, and it’s harsh because I thought we put so much on it. I don’t think anybody could have denied that the effort we put in, we could have earned a point tonight.’ The manager reckons his side’s inability to play forward in the first half contributed to the defeat, ‘We need to be able to run forward and play forward, and we got to the top of the league with a lot of characteristics, of being that team, and I felt tonight, we were guilty of not playing forward in that early part of the game. ‘The distances between my last centre-half and their centre half was about 30 yards. The grass was all behind them; we needed more runs from the forward line, and we needed more passes into space to make them think twice about coming after us. The distances then become tighter and tighter, and you need to be really on point to break press. We broke their press a few times, and we got out, and we play alright. But we were guilty of that, and it ended up causing a red card, which makes the game so much more challenging for us.’ Hearts return to Premiership action next Tuesday, in the third Edinburgh Derby of the season at Tynecastle