McInnes on 'terrible' injuries, title motivation & Collum talks

[ASFN Admin]

Derek McInnes has been speaking to the media before Premiership leaders Hearts host Falkirk in the penultimate game of the season on Wednesday night.

Here are the key lines:

• Defender Craig Halkett and midfielder Marc Leonard have undergone operations after rupturing their Achilles in the weekend draw at Motherwell and will be out for up to nine months.
• McInnes hopes the "terrible" injury blows will help inspire Hearts to the title: "It's an extra wee bit of motivation for us – if we needed any more – that two players who have played a big part have really suffered. It's unusual. I've never known anything like it to get two Achilles injuries in one game."
• Harry Milne and Cammy Devlin are both fit and available to start on Wednesday.
• McInnes says it is "brilliant shooting" that Hearts already have a Champions League spot secured, but they are determined to "go one better now and win the league" and have an "unshakeable belief in what we're doing".
• Hearts have parked the "sense of injustice" after being denied a penalty in the 1-1 draw at Fir Park: "We were the better team and I thought we were denied a really good chance to get that second goal. So of course there's a bit of grievance, but you can't use that all of a sudden as a reason to get into the next game and still be hankering over that. I think we've moved on from that."
• McInnes revealed he spoke to Scottish FA referees' chief Willie Collum to get the penalty grievance "off my chest". He says Collum was "in agreement" the VAR had done their job by calling referee Steven McLean to the monitor and is "satisfied with that point of view".
• McInnes adds: "Everything becomes magnified now. Everything has got such a weight behind it. And so we were really disappointed with the decision. VAR worked perfectly... but unfortunately the referee didn't."
• On Hearts fulfilling Tony Bloom's prediction of at least splitting the Old Firm this season, McInnes says: "I'm satisfied with what the players have given us. They're the main drivers of all of this. The players have been first class. We've had so many good moments, it's been such an enjoyable season."
• After the win over Rangers in Hearts' previous home outing, McInnes' message to the fans for the visit of Falkirk is: "Hopefully the same again. Something close to that would be perfect for us in terms of how the game started. That's the biggest thing tomorrow night, that we try and deliver a performance that wins the game and then just keep doing what you're doing."
• McInnes is convinced second-place Celtic will win at Motherwell: "I've had it in my head that we are going to the last game and I'm prepared for that."
• McInnes says that while it's "nice to even hear" Hearts could be crowned champions at Tynecastle on Wednesday night, the focus is purely on beating Falkirk and "the likelihood is we're going to have to win two games or certainly pick up four points".

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[BBC]

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