Incoming Hearts signings Sabah Kerjota and Pierre Landry Kabore are awaiting final visa paperwork to complete their moves to Tynecastle Park. Both the Albanian winger and Burkinabe forward are in Edinburgh and could be confirmed as Hearts players at some point next week, provided the relevant documentation is in place.

Only Kabore is ready for competitive action immediately, though. The Burkina Faso internationalist has been playing regularly in Estonia with JK Narva Trans and is therefore up to speed in terms of fitness. Kerjota has not done much pre-season work since finishing last season with US Sambenedettese in Italy, and will thereforefore need more training before he can make his Hearts debut.

Head coach Derek McInnes took charge for the first time on Saturday as Hearts beat Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline 4-1 in their opening Premier Sports Cup tie. An early James Wilson opener, two Lawrence Shankland penalties and a late Stephen Kingsley volley secured victory for the hosts at Tynecastle. Josh Cooper equalised for Dunfermline towards the end of the first half but the home pressure eventually paid off late in the second half.

Afterwards, McInnes explained the current transfer situation with Kerjota and Kabore. He said progress is being made. Ayem but whether we can get the visas and stuff through for the games, I’m not sure,” he said in reference to this week’s Premier Sports Cup ties against Hamitlon on Tuesday and Stirling Albion on Saturday. “We’re quite far down the line with a couple.

“We’ll try to get two in anyway. And I think, I think we’re confident we’ll get them done. It’s just whether we can get them available. One boy’s up and running in terms of his fitness and one boy isn’t. He’s coming from a wee bit back in terms of pre-season, so it would be good to get them introduced into the for the League Cup games if we can.”

Dunfermline held Hearts at 1-1 for long spells as frustration built within Tynecastle and McInnes acknowledged that the difficulties his players faced in their first competitive outing of the campaign. “You’ve seen the some of the results today for the Premiership teams. It’s not straightforward,” he said. “We asked for a strong start, which we got. I thought in that first 20-25 minutes we could have been a couple up before we scored, but then James Wilson gets one. That should settle us down and we had a few good moments after that and should have done better.

“Then, the one real opportunity Dunfermline had, I think it was their first shot, they score from, and it sets you back. It sets the crowd back. It’s like, well this isn’t going to script. This isn’t what’s meant to happen.And at half-time, we tried to settle the boys down a wee bit and just to say, look, we’ve got to recognise why the game’s level. The game now becomes a 45-minute game. If we’d turned up before the game today and said you’ve got 45 minutes to beat Dunfermline, we’d still have taken that challenge on, but it was on us to do a bit more.

“I thought we had decent control and still had to huff and puff a wee bit in the second half. I didn’t think we were going to lose the game, but I wasn’t convinced we were going to win it. I think probably just as we were considering the subs, I think maybe I made the subs maybe five minutes too late. But I think Dunfermline for the first time in the game thought, ‘we could maybe win this here.’ You actually felt their encouragement coming from us just not being as composed and as sure of ourselves as we should have been.

“Just as they thought that they started promoting a few more bodies into our half for the first time in the game, we’ve done them going the other way. A lot of times games are decided tactically, not very often. Sometimes that can get overplayed. A lot of times, games are decided with special goals, but a lot of the time, they’re decided by mistakes. I’ve spoken with Lenny there, I thought that we forced mistakes.

“We were in a position to maybe ask the question of their defenders a wee bit more because I think they were exposed a wee bit more just because I think for the first time in the game, they thought they could win it. And the scoreline runs away from them. We win the game 4-1. It flatters us. It’s harsh on Dunfermline. I enjoyed the first 25 minutes of the game and enjoyed the last 15 minutes of the game. Everything in between was just okay and it’s clear that we still got work to do.”

McInnes admitted that leaving players out was tough. He did not strip midfielder Sander Kartum, defender Adam Forrester or striker Musa Drammeh. “Because the game was in the balance for a wee bit, I think just finding a way to win and players will feel good about themselves. We’ll be in tomorrow, they’ll bounce in. Some will bounce in a wee bit happier than others. There’ll be a few that we need to get round and pick up, the ones that have not been involved.

“It’s been harsh on them because everybody’s worked their socks off and everybody’s tried to promote themselves and put their hand up and say they’re here and they’ve worked hard. Even leaving boys on the bench and leaving boys out of the squad today is quite harsh on them. But such is the way, we can only pick 11 and we can only pick the subs that are allowed. So tomorrow’s a big day for making sure we, we look after all the boys and everybody’s got a part to play in the upcoming games.”

Shankland’s contribution and composure to convert two penalties saw Hearts go from 1-1 to a 3-1 advantage before subsitute Kingsley struck. McInnes outlined what his captain brings. “His fitness was good but the reason he stays on the pitch when the game is finely poised is you think there’s going to be a moment where he can show his calmness, his experience, and his quality,” he remarked.

“A penalty is a penalty, you still got to stay calm and the game is finely poised. So he gets his two goals. He’s away feeling brilliant about himself. I love the reaction for the crowd. Not only at Lawrence coming off, but to the team as a whole winning the game because it’s not easy at this stage of the season, getting the job done. We had everything to lose from today’s game. Didn’t really have a lot to gain, but I still think there’s quite a lot of positives to take from the game. There’s an honesty that we need to do things a wee bit more natural and we need those improvements as we go through the competition.

“Lawrence is captain and he loves to see his team win, but players like Lawrence, No.9s, they don’t want to get back in their car if they’ve not scored a goal. They always feel better about themselves scoring a goal. Getting two and getting up and running, the reception he got coming off, you always want your strikers to score.

“All of our strikers scored during the week at East Kilbride in a friendly, except Lawrence. Then obviously Wilson gets his goal today, Kabangu has an impact in proceedings as well. So it’ great that he’s up and running. I think you can see how important he going to be because when we were good, he was good in the game.”

There was also praise for 18-year-old Wilson, who McInnes admires. “He does please me. I think he’s done really well pre-season,” added the manager. “You know, sometimes a young boy, you have that kind of sheer willingness to run, that willingness to please. He’s still learning the game, but he’s very intelligent for somebody so young. What he has also got is that sometimes when you’re young, sometimes you need to learn how to use your body. He still doesn’t really know how to use his body. And that’s fine, he’s 18 but he’s actually come back, he’s a lot stronger, a lot more robust than I thought he was.

“He’s such an intelligent player. He’s only going to get better. James has probably had as good a pre-season as any of the boys and I think they’ve all contributed well over the pre-season. So, he gets a goal against Crawley, he gets his goal again today. We lost him from the game a wee bit as we fell out the game a wee bit in terms of not being as active running about Dunfermline’s goal for a period in the second half. Of all the things we need to do, he’s way down the line in terms of things to worry about. He’s fine, he’s going the right way.”

New signings Claudio Braga and Oisin McEntee were in the starting line-up, with Christian Borchgrevink and Elton Kabangu coming off the bench in the second half. “I thought Braga showed wee moments. I think he needs to learn about Tynecastle,” said McInnes. “I think he needs to learn about opponents, they’re not going to let him have a lot of time. He played that role for us against Crawley, against the same shape, and I thought he was really effective.

“I think he showed he’s capable. He’s got wee moments, but there’s also things he needs to tidy up on. The Scottish game will find you out if you’re not sharp and take care of the ball a wee bit more. But I think he can be pleased as all of them can, playing their part in a winning performance.

“Big Oisin was slightly out of position, but we wanted to try and adopt a really aggressive press. And on that side, we wanted Alan Forrest to play to try and get at the outside of the Dunfermline’s left-sided centre-back. When it worked, it was really good, but it’s not his natural position. I think he showed that he can do well in that position. He put a good few crosses in. He seemed to be the one who was getting most touches of the ball in the first half and I would rather my full-backs and centre-backs weren’t the ones with the most touches. I think he can be pleased.

“As I say, first game of the season can catch you out. No matter what pre-season I did, whether it was old school Walter Smith, or a wee bit more modern approach, you were always shattered in your first game. You always felt shattered during it and the temperatures didn’t help. I think today, the players get through the game, they’ll feel better for having the 90 minutes in their legs.

“I think it has to be said that the subs all helped us get the job done. I thought the subs all played a part. Every one of them had an impact on the game, in a positive sense. So, we have games Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, then Saturday for big Craig’s [testimonial] game. We’ll utilise the squad going into the game on Tuesday again.”