Del's army of reserves put on show of force

DEREK McINNES insists there's no first-team comfort zone at Hearts after watching his fringe stars batter down his door with an eight-goal mauling of Ross County.

- BY GORDON PARKS

The Tynecastle boss was thrilled to see a second-string side run riot in a closed-door friendly on Tuesday as Elton Kabangu claimed a hat-trick during the 8-1 victory over the Staggies with recent signings Tomas Magnusson and Pierre Landry Kabore also on target.

It was an exercise to give players game time between competitive fixtures and McInnes believes the manner of the rout is a sign of the desire from out-of-favour stars to force their way into his plans. He said: "I was delighted with the approach from the players.

"Some of them can maybe feel they are on the outside looking in and feel a bit sorry for themselves.

"But they haven't shown that and they put in so much work against a strong County team. That pleases me no end because there was no sulking.

"My son asked me, 'Who was your best player?'. And it was hard to pick just one. I was delighted with all of them and they enjoyed working hard.