Derek McInnes described his side’s 2-0 victory over St Mirren as “brilliant” as Hearts secured a second 10-man win in three days.

His side survived 45 minutes with 10 men to beat Dundee on Sunday afternoon, butMcInnes believes this victory “tops it by a long way”.

“We were in trouble. We got the experience on Sunday. We played similarly, although Dundee played a different shape to St Mirren.”

“We were still carrying a threat with three at the top of the pitch to try and carry a threat, give us a bit of oxygen, give us a bit of relief. The three lads, Lawrence, Claudio, and Kyzi, carried a fight for us and gave us some good moments, but without scoring the goal.”

Beni Baningime’s late challenge on Ronald Idowu gave the Jambos a mountain to climb in the 15th minute, but once more, they rose from the canvas to deliver a crucial victory, maintaining their six-point gap at the summit of the Scottish Premiership.

“Beni Baningime, who’s as popular a boy in that dressing room as anybody, is in tears. We had to help him out. We had to dig ourselves out of a bit of trouble.”

“With 10 men against a team like St Mirren, it’s not always easy. We thought we had enough encouragement at times, we had a couple of good opportunities, good breaks.”

“It’s a great bit of play in the lead-up to Lawrence’s goal where the captain sets the right tone, gets the goal and then we have something to hang on to.”

“That’s due to the effort of the lads. We can only set them up. I can only give them the instruction of what’s the best chance to get that clean sheet.”

The win maintains their 100% winning start to 2026, keeping three clean sheets in the process. McInnes’ side have another quick turnaround, as they welcome Falkirk to Tynecastle for the Scottish Cup 4th Round on Saturday evening.