Derek McInnes in bullish Celtic address as Kilmarnock stars 'confident' mood inspires Viaplay Cup shock dream

Derek McInnes insists won’t be popping champagne after picking up a point at Tynecastle.

But the Kilmarnock boss reckon his sides stunning start to the season is something to celebrate. McInnes’s men backed up the opening day win against Rangers with a goalless stalemate at Hearts – that could have been even better. And the Rugby Park gaffer said: “Disappointment’s not the first emotion that comes to it.

“We’re not celebrating coming here and getting a point, and the clean sheet and the performance. But what I am privately celebrating is the type of team we’ve become in a short space of time. Coming through the League Cup stages and frantically trying to put a squad together that can meet the demands, we had so much to do. But the team over the last couple of games have shown so many real qualities.

“That wasn’t just a battling performance, that wasn’t us hanging in. Hearts came onto it for about 10 minutes towards the end, but I thought we were pretty assured and comfortable throughout.

“And I think we look as if we’ve been playing together a lot longer than what we have done, and that’s testament to the players. I think we’ve signed a good level of player and a good type of personality on the pitch.

“That’s two clean sheets against Rangers and Hearts and that ominous stat that everybody talked about, and on paper it looked that way, but all of a sudden we’ve come through those games.”

McInnes’s side have another tough test in the League Cup with champions Celtic heading to Ayrshire. But he admitted confidence is soaring at Rugby Park. He said: “Last week’s performance helped coming into this one and hopefully today’s performance helps us going into a cup tie against Celtic. I am confident, I have said that to the