Heart of Midlothian opened up a five-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a 1-0 win over Falkirk, thanks to Islam Chesnokov's first goal for the club.
It meant the league leaders responded to the 4-2 loss at Ibrox last week.
Derek McInnes spoke on different topics after the game:
Game Assessment
The Hearts head coach was happy with the second-half performance after a difficult first half. McInnes noted that they looked more likely to score the second goal in the match.
"I prefer a 2-0, but we spoke often here. I think we've had five or six (1-0s) maybe in the league. Sometimes those 1-0s are the bedrock of any success a team can have. I think that's been demonstrated in history," he said.
"We spoke about a late game here, we lost a late goal against Kilmarnock. We said sometimes 1-0 is enough. I thought we were the team that looked more likely to score a second goal in the second half.
"I thought our performance was far better and far tidier in the second half. The first half, a 20-25 minute period where we looked really anxious. I thought our out-of-possession stuff was good against Falkirk the whole game, but our in-possession stuff needed to be better.
"Sometimes when you're used to playing with two strikers, it becomes a bit more obvious the right passes to make and the risk to it. But I thought at times we didn't really knit the game together enough. The scarier moments came when we lost the ball in poor areas.
"Falkirk countered on us and you know their threats. I watch Falkirk often enough. They normally pepper teams, they normally put endless crosses in the box and normally create so many chances, they very rarely do they not score.
"But I thought it wasn't really like that. I thought in the second half we were comfortable enough, we kept them away at arm's length. To do that, and we spoke at half-time about the need to communicate louder, more effectively, certainly more as well.
"I thought at times we were causing ourselves problems just by not using our voice. The one thing the opposition cannae do is stop you running and stop you talking. We needed to get a bit more of that. We needed to take the anxiety out of the game by being a wee bit more organised when we were in-possession stuff and stop giving them little sniffs of encouragement.
"So the goal comes brilliantly. We get the benefit of playing two wide players and one striker with the goal. Kyziridis comes off shape, finds a little pocket. He doesn't panic; he has the wherewithal to play the right pass and Chesnokov scores a brilliant goal, such a good finish."
Fan praise
McInnes sought to praise the role of the home support for their backing during the 1-0 win.
"I need to thank the fans because in that little period in the first half, it would have been easy to make the team more anxious," he said. "I actually thought they were the opposite. I thought they were brilliant.
"I think they understand it. I think there are so many at Hearts who this is new to. I think they all recognise they have a role to play and it helped the team.
"We get the goal just before half-time, so rather than coming off to grumbles and all the rest of it, we get the goal in the game and we've got something to hang on to.
"We spoke at half-time and were going to try and get the next goal. Like I said, I thought we were the team more likely to get a second goal."
Chesnokov
The Kazakh international opened his account for the club and McInnes believes he is "just getting better and better".
He added: "Sometimes you don't see him for long spells, but he's a moment's player. He was unlucky with a shot in the second half.
"I think he's going the right way. He's got the trust of all his team-mates. We see how honest he is," he said.
"He works like a Trojan. He's probably the hardest-working wide player I've worked with. And we feel he's getting more and more quality.
"His shot, it was a brave block for the Falkirk boy. It was flying towards goal. And he's got that quality. And I think he's just slowly but surely finding his way and feeling part of it.
"I don't know if he's up for press. His English is better than he makes out. So he's getting better. And we're delighted with his contribution."
Steinwender
The Austrian's inclusion in the side ahead of Jordi Altena raised eyebrows amongst the Hearts support. McInnes explained his reasoning, praising his performance.
He said: "Michael Steinwender plays because I know there's this thing about Altena but we needed our best defenders. And Jordi has so much quality for us going the other way. But Calvin Miller is arguably one of the best players in the Premier League. And whether he plays there or whoever plays there for Falkirk, sometimes you've got to negate the opposition's strengths.
"So Michael Steinwender has got the skill set to deal with that type of player. So I'm pleased for Michael that he managed to do his defensive job really well today."
