"It's never happened, has it?"
Beni Baningime has just been asked if he can remember the last time he attempted two shots in a game. After the initial laughter, he queried if he had ever done it.
The answer surprised him. Heart of Midlothian's 1-1 draw with Ross County 13 months ago.
“Really? Nah, I can’t remember that. From last season? Which game? 1-1 home game? I can’t remember that," he said.
Since those two shots, he had attempted just two efforts. That was until Wednesday night in Paisley and the 2-2 draw with St Mirren.
The 27-year-old was agonisingly close to scoring his first in maroon since March 2022. Marauding forward, he found himself with the ball at his feet in the box. He shifted it onto his right and curled an effort that hit the inside of the far post and somehow didn't land in the net.
"I wish I did [bury it]. But it was unlucky, to be fair. I thought I hit it well, cut in alright, but it just wasn’t for me. Move on to the next one, and hopefully, I get a goal soon," he said.
The next one actually arrived 52 minutes later. This time, the contact wasn't nearly as clean. He perhaps took inspiration from his earlier effort.
He joked: “Yeah, it was playing on my mind. I need to chill out!"
There was an explanation. He wasn't aware of Alexandros Kyziridis in his vicinity. If he were, he most certainly would have passed.
"No, literally, I think it’s because Kyzi was right next to me. But I didn’t see him. If I saw him, I wouldn’t have shot because that’s Kyzi’s favourite shot," he explained. "To come inside and bend it in the top bin as he always does, even on the second goal. It was a great shot from him. So I didn’t see him. If I saw him, I wouldn’t have shot. I promise you that.”
Once again, Baningime excelled in the middle of the park for Hearts.
As always, there were the key defensive actions, breaking up play, thwarting ground assaults from St Mirren.
But there was also the impact on the ball. Only Alexandros Kyziridis made more passes into the St Mirren box and only Harry Milne played more passes in the final third.
There is more of a demand to move the ball forward and at a quicker pace.
He said: “Try and get it up there a little bit faster. Obviously, it’s a pass, not a long ball, but it’s a pass to try and get it to the players that are going to win you the games a lot quicker.
"So me and Cammy don’t want the ball, we just give it to them guys!”
He added: “I think what’s being asked of me and Cammy specifically is to try and be solid, of course. That’s the first thing.
“The way that me and Cammy play, break up the play, try and get on the ball. I’m being demanded to get on the ball a lot more to try and get control and whatever, and, obviously, try and chip in with a few goals.
“Unfortunately, that didn’t happen today. But, hopefully, more can happen. So I think the gaffer and the coaching staff are definitely demanding of me, Cammy and everyone else, to be fair.
“But I will say the most important thing that they’ve been speaking to me about is trying to control the game a lot more than I have done. So I’ll try and do that for sure.”
Ask anyone at Hearts and they will sing the praises of Devlin, both his influence on the park and what he brings to the club off of it.
Yet, Baningime perhaps rivals McInnes in offering the most effusive of praise. And few are better placed to offer that insight than the Australian's midfield partner.
He said: “He’s a pest to the opponents, yeah. But he’s the best guy ever, honestly. Off the pitch, he’s the nicest guy ever. That’s why we get along because we’re actually friends, but he’s a great player and you see him playing and you see the quality that he has.
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“I think a lot of people speak about him off the ball, but I don’t think a lot of people speak about how good he actually is on the ball. And sometimes, I think maybe for me, it’s the other way around. I don’t know. It’s on the flip side.
"Whereas for Cammy, they see more combative and they think: Oh, like, he’s not as good on the ball. And even the gaffer says it all the time.
“When he first came in, he was like: Oh, wait, you’re actually really good on the ball. So he’s a great player, he’s a pleasure to play with.”
It's not just what's being asked of Baningime or playing with Devlin, but the whole feeling around the club that he is enjoying.
He said: “I always try and enjoy football. You always see me smiling. I always try and get the kid that has always loved football. Take everything away. Take, I don’t know, contract situations or just everything. I don’t know what everything is. Take away the fans and whatever. Just try and play football and try and enjoy it as much as possible.
“Of course, you’re playing football to win, so it is a job. It’s not about messing around and whatever. But within that, as a job, you just try and enjoy it as much as possible. So that’s what I try and do.”
“There’s pressure all the time, but I’ve been here long enough. You deal with it and that’s the most important thing.
“You just try and enjoy it as much as possible because it goes by so quickly. Obviously, there’s seriousness. There’s competition, there’s a job to be done to win games. But, within that, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it.”
