Nobody can question Hearts’ mentality – McInnes

Derek McInnes believes anyone still questioning whether his Heart of Midlothian side have the courage to handle the heat of the Scottish title race has not been paying attention.

The Edinburgh side are currently three points clear of reigning champions Celtic at the top of the Premiership with just three games left of the campaign.

McInnes says that, after Monday’s statement win that all but ended third-top Rangers’ title hopes, they are in pole position and the mentality of the group is exactly where he expects it to be.

“I think anybody who actually questions the mentality now hasn’t been watching us,” the head coach said.

“It goes without saying, regardless of how this season plays out, you don’t, at Hearts, get to 76 points with three games to go if you’ve not got a good mentality, because there’s pressures at this club that you need to deal with.

“There’s an insistence on winning games here and an expectation, so the players have answered that time and time again.”

McInnes pointed to five wins against the Old Firm this season, as well as their three victories from four derbies with Hibernian and their unbeaten home record as evidence that “mentality is never in question”.

He insists everyone inside the dressing room remains “pretty relaxed” despite the prospect of a first league title since 1960 and becoming the first club outside Rangers or Celtic to become champions since 1985.

However, he admitted: “Normally, days off can be a chance to switch off, but with the greatest will in the world, it’s hard to do that at the minute, particularly because there’s not many training days now.

“Now we’re going to have three games in a week that, for all we’ve done, will decide how it all plays out.”

Hearts could clinch the title as early as Wednesday, when they host Falkirk, but they are guaranteed at worst a final-day shootout at Celtic Park.

“We can’t get obsessed with all the different connotations and what happens there if we win that one and they win that one,” McInnes, whose side visit fourth-top Motherwell on Saturday night before Celtic host Rangers on Sunday.

“That’s not our thinking, I’ve no time for that,” McInnes said. “The message to the players is just concentrate on trying to win against Motherwell.

“They haven’t beaten us this season, but they’ve been problematic for most teams. In all three games, they could have beaten us, but we’ve managed to do our job well enough for long enough in all the games to pick up points.”

McInnes was named PFA Scotland manager of the year on Sunday and said he regards it as “an award for everybody”, pointing to the support he has had from sporting director Graeme Jones and coaches Paul Sheeran and Alan Archibald.