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Derek McInnes stressed Hearts can still improve after stretching eight points clear of Celtic at the top of the William Hill Premiership. On an electric afternoon at Tynecastle Park, a Dane Murray own goal, an Alexandros Kyziridis strike and a Lawrence Shankland penalty helped intensify talk that Hearts can mount a sustained title challenge this season. The Edinburgh club are unbeaten in their first nine league games, but head coach McInnes believes there is more to come. Kazakhstani winger Islam Chesnokov is on the way as a new signing, and existing players can still be better, according to McInnes. “I think there's still improvement in us, to be honest. I do think there's a bit more in us,” he said. “I think we've got good strength in the squad. My bench is strong. The boys on the stand aren’t involved today but they're training at a good level. We get Ageu on today. Obviously, there's been a lot made of that. We try to get that integration with him. We've got one or two things lined up for January, but we've got two months of football ahead of that. We just need to keep the fight as well. “I think, as clear as day, we need to keep improving. As good as today was, and we'll enjoy it, I thought we deserved the win, and that's good for us. I think it does us no harm in terms of a reference to the players, in terms of confidence and belief, if they ever needed it. But we never had the game built way up there, the way it's been talked about. We just had the game as a game. It was a chance to win, and we've seen the importance of it. “I thought the players dealt with the game really well. It's what I expected was how they dealt with the game. You can’t control the outcome, but I thought we got the deserved outcome. I think it's a long way to go. If this was after the second round of games, and we were sitting in the position we're in, then it might be a wee bit more difficult for me to sit here and say what I'm saying. But at the minute, it's easy to say what I'm saying. “We're still so long in the season to go, 29 games or whatever it is. We're not even through the first round of fixtures. But what we are getting, and what we should all be encouraged by, is we're getting consistent performance, scoring goals, creating more chances, creating more big chances, more shots on target, more penalty-box entries. We're far more effective over the day. “Celtic never really quite connected the game. They went a bit longer, and we dealt with that one once we got our distances right at times. We got a lot of the game, what we wanted from the game, but it's still only three points. And it's important that, after the Lord Mayor's show, on Wednesday we go to Paisley against St Mirren and we know how difficult that is at any time. “So just because we're in a good run of form, and we'll take the good of that, because football is not always like that. Sometimes you're searching for a win. You can’t get a win. Players are searching for confidence. We're searching for a goal. We're struggling to keep clean sheets. At the minute we've got all that, but it's important we just recognise why we're getting that, and just keep trying to continue to improve.” McInnes finished second to Celtic as Aberdeen manager but this Hearts squad may well have greater strength in numbers after 11 summer signings. “I think what we've got here is probably a stronger depth, if you're asking in terms of squads,” he explained. “My squad at Aberdeen was magnificent - some magnificent players going to do so many good things in their careers. I don't think it's like for like. We are just trying to continue the fight with ourselves. “We're trying to integrate a lot of new players. But what I keep saying to people is we're still getting six or seven of the boys that were in the building in every startling line-up this season. It hasn’t just been a magic wand. The recruitment has been smart and we feel it will really pay dividends, but we're getting a bit more from the players that were here. That's down to the players. I think they're all enjoying it, as they should.” McInnes stated after Hearts beat Kilmarnock last weekend that he wanted them to become addicted to winning. They are taking on the manager’s wish. “Aye. I think so. There's always an opponent trying to stop you winning. At half-time, I don't think any of the players settled for anything. A draw wouldn't have been the worst result, clearly. I don't think anybody was settling for that. We thought there was a bit more in us. I thought if we corrected a few things, that we could actually give ourselves a better chance to win. “It's alright me saying it. The players have got to go and deliver that. I'm pleased that they've taken the opportunity because it was an opportunity, there's no doubt about it. Whether it changes people's perceptions, or whether it fuels their narrative of what they think, I actually don't really care too much about it, to be honest. I'm just concentrating on trying to manage a group of boys who are giving everything. And they have done since first day.” Although some Hearts supporters may be allowing themselves to dream about how long their team can remain top of the league, management inside Tynecastle have no plans to do likewise. “I genuinely don't think anybody's dreaming,” said McInnes. “The games are just coming thick and fast. I'm actually not looking beyond it. I get it and understand it because it's unusual for any team to be eight points clear of a team like Celtic. But I'm well aware that Celtic are going to get better and improve. And they've got the strength. “You've got to say, Celtic spend millions and they pay millions in wages - a lot more than we can ever do. So there's a huge advantage that they've got over us. Any advantage we had going into the game - being a bit fresher, maybe they've got a few injuries or whatever - but hands down, they have got so many advantages over every other team in the league at the minute. Including ourselves. So we are not focusing on Celtic. We're not focusing on anybody other than ourselves, to be honest. “I can’t control what other teams will do, whatever they spend, but I can concentrate on us trying to get better. I think we have just got to recognise that there's work to be done here. We intend to do it well, but we do feel as if there's an improvement in us.” Hearts’ two central midfielders, Cammy Devlin and Beni Baningime, dominated large periods of the game to underpin a huge home victory. “They were good. They always are,” stated McInnes. “I thought they anticipated really well. I thought they were really influential in the first part of the game, allowing us to put our foot in the ball and go side to side. When you play against a team who have got three in there and three very good players, at some point you need that extra body somewhere. “The extra body, at times, can come from one of your wide players tucking in. It can come from a striker dropping in and it can come from a defender stepping into the play. It's not an easy shift. I played for a manager who consistently played 4-4-2 and I was one of the midfielders. I know how hard that is to play in there. “I thought the two of them did brilliantly well because you've got to anticipate well and you've got to look after the ball well. There's a big demand on them physically. The two of them were magnificent again. It's two players I was keen to work with when I got the job and they've been everything that I would have hoped for.” READ MORE: Hearts 3-1 Celtic report and ratings
