Hearts: Narrow wins ‘bedrock of success’ as leaders edge Falkirk

More of those will be more than welcome considering their title rivals are beginning to motor.

Danny Rohl’s Rangers have lost just once – away to Porto in the Europa League – in 14 outings since losing at Tynecastle in December.

Reigning champions Celtic, just six behind Hearts with two games in hand, have lost once in 11, albeit a bruising 4-1 Europa League loss at home to Stuttgart on Thursday, and rekindled their habit of vital late goals under interim manager Martin O’Neill.

Motherwell, 10 behind with a game in hand, will surely also have a say in the destiny of the title given they have lost once in their latest 10.

Hearts’ three wins in their latest seven outings are not quite as impressive, and McInnes admitted: “The first half, there was a 20-25 minute period where we looked really anxious.

“Our out-of-possession stuff was good the whole game, but our in-possession stuff needed to be better.”

However, the Hearts boss thought that, overall, his side coped well with John McGlynn’s dangerous Bairns.

“We were far better in the second half than we were first,” he said. “We were the team that looked more likely to score a second goal in the second half.

“I watch Falkirk often enough and they normally pepper teams, they normally put endless crosses in the box, they normally create so many chances.

“Very rarely do they not score. But it wasn’t really like that. The second half, we were comfortable enough, we kept them away at arm’s length.

“There were a lot of people tipping Falkirk to come here and win, but I thought we thoroughly deserved the win.”