The defender scored the late equaliser which rescued a point with a brilliant looping header, after a quickfire Hearts doube had the hosts in front for much of the second half.

However, it was his defensive display that pleased the manager just as much. McInnes admits Makhanya had to be good because his teammates around him were not as assured, and was pleased to see him stand up to the task.

The 55-year-old had conceded his former team had the better performers on the night, but was then asked about the South African.

He said: "No, you’re right to mention him. I thought he was outstanding and he had to be because we weren’t as assured around him at times. I thought he was terrific.

"He gets his goal, which is two goals now in two games from set plays. That’s vitally important for us and we need to add that to our bow. But you’re right. It was more the retention of the ball in the forward areas that I thought needed to be better.

"Both teams play with an element of risk when they commit to what is effectively a 4-4-2. They might say it’s 4-3-3, but it’s 4-4-2, with the two strikers split, a bit like last season with Braga and Shankland. You’ve got to be ready for that at times, but I thought their wider players had a bit more influence on the game."

With his overall assessment of the game, McInnes had said: "I think when you go in front at a place like this, we’re disappointed we never showed more authority in the game. I don’t think you expect to have control when you come to Tynecastle. We’ve got a very young forward line and I don’t think we secured the ball enough. I think when we did, as we did for the two strikers combining for the ball, it’s a brilliant goal in terms of combination play from them.

"But when you’re two teams, effectively 4-4-2, playing a full press and going after the ball, it’s not so much the first ball up that you need to win, it’s the next one. I thought Hearts, certainly for that 15-minute period before half-time, kept picking up a lot of the ball and feeding their wider players and forward players. I thought their forward players looked after the ball a lot better. We were giving away umpteen free-kicks and playing with fire, to be honest. We were disappointed that, going into half-time, we gave up a lot of control of the game.

"You’ve got to credit Hearts. I think Hearts had the better players. I think they had three or four real top performers and players who played really well, so I have to be honest with that. We never started the second half. It’s inexplicable, really. We lose another free-kick, given away cheaply, and we get punished this time for it with Claudio’s goal. Then we lose possession.

"When you lose possession against a team like Hearts, because of the way they drag you all over, they’re also susceptible in transition if they give the ball away in those areas. But they’re capable of punishing you and they were good enough to punish us. We never defended with any real certainty tonight and we needed to in those moments.

"As the game played on and we made changes, it was only really in the last 15 or 20 minutes that we started to knit a few passes. I think that was partly because Hearts were maybe tiring a wee bit, the game became a bit bigger and the spaces became a bit bigger. We started to play a wee bit more and we got an equaliser from a set play, which is pleasing. From that point of view, we deserved our point. Although we should have won it at the end, it would have been really harsh on Hearts had we taken it. We didn’t do enough to win the game, but we worked hard. I think the stats will show we had more possession, more big chances and a similar number of shots on target. But, as I say, the better performers were in Hearts jerseys tonight. ​"