Derek McInnes tells new Hearts signings silverware is a must as he reserves special praise for star man

The ambitious Jambos boss is determined to lift trophies at Tynecastle

Derek McInnes admits his night out at an Oasis gig fuelled his belief that Hearts are finally on fertile ground to end their trophy drought.

The Jambos boss went walkabout at Murrayfield when the Gallagher brothers were in the capital and bumped into fans of the Gorgie club who are mad for it in their bid for silverware this season.

A Scottish Cup triumph back in 2012 was the last major honour and McInnes believes the support are fed up looking back in anger.

He said: "I went to see Oasis and met some Hearts fans, they're talking to me now because we're winning.

"There's a lot of optimism, it is clear. You can tell there's been a buy-in at the minute; the fans are choking for something, bursting for just some sort of level of hope and success.

"It's a responsibility I'm aware of and I'm comfortable with and hopefully we can do that in our time here.

"Any cup success, whether it's the League Cup or the Scottish Cup, I think clubs like Hearts should aim for. There's probably a frustration that they've not won more in recent years.

"That will come from the fact that you see other clubs, smaller clubs, winning trophies as well. Why can't it be us? We've just got to try and put ourselves in that position.

"It's something we need to work towards. In time, I just want us to be arriving at Hampden time and time again, feeling comfortable in that environment, feeling comfortable dealing with semi-finals and hopefully finals and being 90 minutes away.

"Every Hearts player, and I've said this to them when they all signed, they should have signed because they wanted to lift a trophy and be successful here.

"Players sign for clubs for loads of reasons. Sometimes they'll sign for the manager, sometimes they'll sign for location, and sometimes they'll sign for financial reasons and all the rest of it.

"But when you sign for Hearts, we've all got to meet the responsibility that our job is to win a trophy. Hopefully that is the case.

"Whether the recent history's not great across the League Cup, what matters is we're all here. Can we do something here so we can make our mark on the place?"

McInnes has an unblemished start to his reign with six competitive wins on the bounce with a last 16 League Cup clash at St Mirren on Saturday next up and he reserved special mention for defender Craig Halkett for being an integral part of an impressive start to the campaign.

He said: "When I first set eyes on Craig at pre-season, he had clearly been working. He's a player I've tried to sign in the past and a player I've always admired. He has not been without his issues here with injuries, but he heads a ball perfectly with his timing.

"He's a good talker, he's a good organiser, he looks after the ball well, he likes a fight, a scrap. If he needs to fight somebody physically, he'll deal with that. Whether it's in a back three or a back four, I think he copes really well. He knows the club.

"From day one, Craig has done every session, ticked every box and did everything I would hope for from him."