Kris Boyd: Hearts 'not going away' in title fight despite handing initiative back to Celtic

Kris Boyd believes that Hearts will not crumble in the fight for the Scottish Premiership title despite Celtic cutting the gap at the top of the table to just three points.

Derek McInnes' side fell to a 3-2 defeat to Hibernian in the 150th anniversary of the Edinburgh derby, with the Hearts boss left frustrated by his team's inability to do the basics right.

That allowed Celtic a chance to halve their lead at the summit while still having a game in hand, which they managed to do via a chaotic 4-2 victory away at bottom-of-the-table Livingston.

With the game advantage, it puts the initiative in the hands of Wilfried Nancy's side, but Boyd is not counting Hearts out yet and believes that their next run of games could see them retake control of the title race.

• Hibs 3-2 Hearts | Livingston 2-4 Celtic | Rangers 1-0 Motherwell
• Got Sky? Watch now on the Sky Sports app ? 
• Not got Sky? Get instant access with no contract ?
• Scottish Premiership table | Watch Premiership highlights for free

"It's a lot of the basic stuff that let Hearts down today. Derek [McInnes] will be raging with that," Boyd said.

"But his team are still sitting at the top of the table. They've got a run of fixtures now - Livingston, Dundee, St Mirren, Falkirk in the cup and then Celtic at home.

"Three of them are at home as well. They have an opportunity to get back at it.

"The crowd at Tynecastle will get behind them. They know what they've done so far. They know they can win games of football in this league.

"I said it last week: I don't see them going away. I really don't. They have enough quality there. It was a bad day which is highlighted even more because it's your rivals.

"For Derek McInnes, he'll be down and annoyed but he won't let it [keep him down]."

McInnes lauds fantastic season despite Hibs defeat

While the defeat to Hibs may have loosened Hearts' grip on top spot, McInnes was more downhearted by the nature in which his team failed to beat their local rivals as opposed to the impact it had on the standings.

"We've had loads of applause for a lot of our attacking play and scoring goals, but equally our defensive record has been so strong. We don't normally lose too many goals," McInnes told Sky Sports.

"You can't come to Easter Road and expect to score three to get something for the game.

"If we were to lose two games in the next 19 games, we'll be there or thereabouts for what we want to do. The lads have done really well. There will be a lot, like when we lost last month, will maybe say that will be them.

"That's fine. That's what people say, but we actually don't think that. We stay calm.

"We've got a run of fixtures starting from next week. Hopefully, we can just get a few wins and just build that momentum again and confidence as we spoke about. Two defeats in 19 games is good shooting from our boys, but we've got to be honest today."

McInnes would later add that Hearts had earned their place at the top of the table through getting the basics right and claimed his side weren't going to overreact to the defeat.

"We get to the top of the league not by being Barcelona, not by being something we don't think we are, it's by doing basics well in games. And particularly in a derby, you need to do that," McInnes added.

"We're not going to start losing all wherewithal at this moment in time. We've lost a game and we know the reasons why we've lost the game."

Nancy focused on turning Celtic around, not the title

Despite a rough start to life at Celtic, two wins from his last two now means that Nancy's side are in a strong position to regain control of the title race with their game in hand.

However, the new boss has refused to get drawn on the battle for top spot, claiming his focus was purely on turning the club around game by game.

"Good for the players," was Nancy's response to Sky Sports when asked about closing the gap.

"For me it doesn’t change anything because I am more focused on the task. Obviously we are pleased to have been there.

"It’s too early to talk about anything. But I am happy we were able to get a good result on a difficult pitch and difficult context.

“Every game I have seen an improvement. Now today I can be more demanding because I think we can do better. This is part of the process. Sometimes we were disconnected. It was not easy because they were man-to-man all over the pitch. We found ways in certain moments to create an imbalance.

“Like I said, we could’ve been a little bit better to our style and be fresher for the next game we are going to play."

What's coming up in the Scottish Premiership?

• Celtic fixtures
• Hearts fixtures

(c) Sky Sports 2025: Kris Boyd: Hearts 'not going away' in title fight despite handing initiative back to Celtic