Derek McInnes believes Hearts fully merit their place at the top of the table at Christmas – as he urged everyone at Tynecastle to continue to improve between now and May.
The Gorgie side’s 2-1 victory over Rangers means they’ve now defeated both halves of the Old Firm home and away for the first time since they last won the title in 1959-60.
Two goals in a four-minute burst from Stuart Findlay and Lawrence Shankland ensured Youssef Chermiti’s late strike was only a consolation.
Hearts are now six points ahead of Celtic and 12 points clear of Rangers with the trip to Easter Road on Saturday bringing up the midway point in the Premiership season.
And while both of the Glasgow giants have been poor this season, McInnes feels just one league defeat to date for his men speaks for itself.
‘I keep hearing about how poor other teams are,’ he said. ‘But our points tally is exactly where it should be for a team who should be top of the league.
Derek McInnes salutes the Hearts supporters after their 2-1 win over Rangers
Hearts players congratulate Lawrence Shankland after he scored their second goal
‘People seem to think that we are only top of the league because of the failings of others.
‘We’re just concentrating on ourselves. We’ve still got that fight to improve. I genuinely feel we’re going to have to improve if we’re going to make it the season we want it to be.
‘But listen, we’re almost at the halfway stage. I’m really pleased with what the players have given us. I’ve been encouraged from day one, to be honest.’
One the growing expectation among supporters that this could be their year, McInnes added: ‘I want us to be relevant. I don’t want us just to see the season out and think of what it could have been.
‘I actually just want us to keep playing important games. And as we go along, I expect others to improve. I think there’s a lot of good teams in the league.
‘We’re really encouraged about where we’ve come from last season to this season. We’ve taken huge steps forward.
Stuart Findlay celebrates after opening the scoring for Hearts against Rangers
‘And that’s a testament to everybody at the club, from the board, the supporters, the players and staff, where everybody’s just working for the same thing.
‘We do need to improve. We need to be smart with our recruitment.
‘We need to come out of January stronger again. But the players and myself, we all need to get better as the season goes along.’
McInnes, though, declared himself to delighted with what his current group are now giving them.
‘I’ve got such a strong belief that we have got such a good team here,’ he said. ‘We’ve got a good thing going. I’m also aware that every game is tough.
I expected us to win today. I did. We’re exactly where we want to be.’
Rangers manager Danny Rohl was frustrated that a promising start to the game was undone by the loss of two goals shortly before the interval.
‘We missed a big opportunity today, this is hard to take,’ he said.
‘I spoke about the steps, today it was more a sidestep than a step forward.
‘Football is not about ifs, it’s about the result and today we couldn’t win.
Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland was at fault for both Hearts goals at Tynecastle
‘We were really good in the game, unlucky with this tight offside decision (against Bojan Miovski). But then we had four minutes and it cost us something.’
Rohl doesn’t believe he’ll have to pick Jack Butland up after the keeper made two errors which led to Hearts’ goals.
The keeper undercooked a pass which led to the corner from which Stuart Findlay scored then failed to keep out Lawrence Shankland’s strike from a tight angle.
‘I think this is always in football like this,’ added the Rangers manager.
‘If you make a mistake in a No10 position, centre-forward, winger position, the consequence is not so huge.
‘If you make it in the last line, or by the goalkeeper’s decision-making, then there’s a big impact. Jack gives us a lot of points.’