Blair Spittal Strikes as Hearts Beat Hibernian F.c. 1-0
Hearts beat hibernian f.c. in the Scottish Premiership, with Blair Spittal scoring the goal that settled it. The win strengthened Hearts after this weekend’s fixtures, while Hibs finished with nine players and still had to defend under heavy pressure.
Spittal’s decisive touch
Spittal’s finish was described as potentially very important, and Derek McInnes said the midfielder keeps delivering when the moment comes. The Hearts manager said, “It's all about can someone come up with the big moment? Blair Spittal scores goals like that every day in training. He's got such good quality. A lot of people could snatch at it. He keeps his knee over the ball, stays calm, and it could be such an important goal.”
McInnes also said Hearts tried everything to make the game go their way, and the move for Spittal reflected that. “Blair Spittal playing as an auxiliary right-back. You're just trying everything to try and make this go your way. It took a bit longer than we thought.”
McInnes on Hearts’ setup
Sabah Kerjota was another part of that plan. McInnes said, “Sabah Kerjota, it's perfect for him in a game like this when you know you're going to have a lot more of the ball because he is somebody who has got that guile, creativity, confidence in the final third.” Hearts had already beaten Rangers at Tynecastle earlier in the season, and McInnes pointed to that home record as part of the wider picture.
He said the club were unbeaten at home all season, but he did not dress the result up as anything larger than one win. “It's one win ticked off, it's one round of fixtures, it counts for nothing if we can't go and back it up now.”
Hearts, Rangers and the table
The weekend left Hearts in a better spot because they won and Rangers did not, and McInnes said that gave both Hearts and Celtic an advantage. “It's an advantage for Celtic and ourselves because we've won our games this weekend and Rangers didn't but there's another round of fixtures coming up so it can quickly change. Nothing gets decided today.”
Hibs offered resistance even after the early setback, but their task grew harder after two players went off. McInnes praised the response across the match, saying Hibs produced an unreal effort while defending with nine players. Motherwell’s push toward fourth place was also mentioned as part of a busy weekend at the top end of the Scottish Premiership table.
