Hearts have been outperforming their expected goals this season, scoring 29 times compared to an xG tally of 22.46, so the more legitimate concern could be that their high return doesn’t last, especially if Shankland is out for a sustained period.
Pierre Landry Kabore partnered Braga on Sunday and had his moments in only his fifth appearance for the club, but blazed his best sight of goal high and wide.
Despite the loss, former Scotland striker Kris Boyd saw no reason for alarm.
“One win in four, it’s a slight concern,” he said on Sky Sports. “I don’t think Hearts had a bad player on the pitch. I thought they defended reasonably well, they just lacked that cutting edge. It just wasn’t to be in front of goal.”
McInnes’ side now go to Motherwell on Saturday, before a testing run of December matches against Kilmarnock, Celtic, Falkirk, Rangers and city rivals Hibernian.
“I don’t think it’s a daunting run at all,” McInnes said. “We’ve got exciting games and games we can go and win.
“We’ll be bouncing into our work and getting ready to go again.
“We know who we play for, we’re enjoying being top of the league. We’re enjoying winning games more than we’re not and it’s important we get back to that feeling.”
Stand-in captain Cammy Devlin echoed the thoughts of his manager.
“The best thing is we only have to wait six days for our next game,” he said. “It is about not feeling sorry for ourselves – we were going to lose a game.
“Just get back to training, work as hard as we can and turn today’s feeling into smiles and getting that winning feeling back again.”