WE'LL NOT MISS A BEAT

Del sure Jambos will stay on track

- BY SCOTT BURNS

DEREK McINNES last night insisted Hearts' defeat at Pittodrie won't derail their season.

The Jambos are now just four points ahead of chasing Celtic at the top of the table after suffering their first league defeat of the campaign, with the Hoops also having a game in hand.

But defiant McInnes claimed a setback for his high-flying Jambos was inevitable and he backed his squad to react in the right manner.

McInnes said: "Do you know something, that's going to happen we were always going to lose a game.

"We wanted to keep that as far away from the door as possible, a defeat.

"You know and I know, a defeat was always going to come and we thought we'd done enough not to lose this game.

"We were a better team but if you don't show the quality we clearly lacked, you're not going to win at a place like Pittodrie Hearts arrived at the ground - a venue where they haven't won since 2016 without injured frontman Lawrence Shankland, Eduardo Ageu, Beni Baningime and Craig Halkett.

But McInnes still felt his team deserved something.