Derek McInnes wants Hearts back on front foot against Kilmarnock

Derek McInnes has called on Premiership leaders Hearts to be more direct against Kilmarnock on Wednesday as they bid to get back on track following three games without a win.

The Jambos were nine points clear of second-placed Celtic a month ago but that advantage has been trimmed to two by the resurgent Hoops, who have a game in hand.

McInnes was irked at his players’ reluctance to get the ball forward to their attackers in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Motherwell, and he wants to see them get back to playing with the level of purpose that helped them soar clear at the summit earlier in the season.

“I just want us to try and be a wee bit more confident with our work, have a bit more belief about our work and a bit more aggressive with our work,” the manager said in a club interview.

“We kept going round the houses and got ourselves bogged down (against Motherwell), so we need to try and engage with our strikers, play forward more and hopefully get our just reward. And Wednesday night gives us an opportunity.”

Hearts are unbeaten at Tynecastle since April while Kilmarnock have slipped to second-bottom of the table after failing to win any of their last seven matches.

McInnes knows his side must capitalise on home advantage in order to bolster morale ahead of Sunday’s top-of-the-table showdown at Celtic Park.

“Saturday was another point on the road, which is decent shooting from us, but it’s important to take care of your home games and hopefully we can do that against Kilmarnock,” said McInnes.

“They’ve got a lot of good players at Kilmarnock, they’ve got a good attacking threat. They’ve obviously struggled to keep clean sheets of late and struggled to perform, but that can easily turn.

“We need to be mindful of the fact that we’ve got to get back to what we do, regardless of who turns up, regardless of what Kilmarnock turn up. We’ve got to try and get back to what we want to do.”