Andy Halliday explains moaning and feeling embarrassed as Hearts look to build on RFS win at Ross County

Scoring Hearts’ second goal against RFS on Thursday was a significant moment for Andy Halliday. He had been complaining before the Europa Conference League tie that he had never hit the net via a deflection.

The 2-1 victory secured third place in Group A for the Edinburgh club although they will still exit the competition after next week’s meaningless game in Turkey against Istanbul Basaksehir. For Halliday, the group phase of UEFA’s third-level tournament will still have some happy memories.

His 12th-minute strike careered off the Latvian centre-back Vitalijs Jagodinskis and beyond goalkeeper Pavels Steinbors to put Hearts 2-0 ahead, complementing Lawrence Shankland’s early opener. Both goals were decisive and Halliday is certain to cherish his for some time.

“Listen, in these European games you need a bit of luck,” he said. “I thought we got that against RFS, which is something that has deserted us over the last few weeks. I was actually moaning before the game that I’m 31 years old and I have never scored a deflection! That’s embarrassing!

“Getting that deflected goal was obviously that little bit of luck we needed. We had a couple of chances to make it a bit more comfortable, but they had chances as well and we had to dig deep. We’re down to the bare bones already [because of injuries], but sometimes those are the most satisfying wins.”

The result ended a six-game winless run for the Edinburgh club, who now look to build on the momentum with a Premiership visit to Ross County on Sunday. “Last season we showed we are more than capable of going on runs ourselves, I remember we did that after the December/January period when we had some poor results,” recalled Halliday.

“I think it’s important we get bodies back so we have a more settled team. We haven’t had that throughout the season. The majority of boys who played against RFS played against Celtic last weekend and we put in a really good performance, hopefully that’s the start of some winning momentum.”

The immediate task is to improve a league position of seventh. “The league has always been our bread and butter and it should be our main focus,” added the midfielder. “We’re a team that tries to take things a game at a time and for most of the boys it has been their first taste of European football. We’re itching to get back at it, especially with atmospheres like the ones we have played in this season.”

Andy Halliday enjoyed scoring for Hearts against RFS.

Hearts remain only five points behind the clubs sitting joint-third in the table, Aberdeen and St Mirren. Despite their demanding European schedule, none of their rivals for third spot have so far managed to move outwith their reach.

“It’s a difficult league, it’s very competitive and I think a lot of teams have improved,” said Halliday. “We want to pick up as many points as we can up to the World Cup break, close that gap if we can, get bodies back and have a real go at it after the break.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re capable of doing that, hopefully starting this weekend. Ross County haven’t had the results they were expecting. We played them in the first game of the season and they were Barcelona for 45 minutes! So we know they have players who can hurt us, but if we turn up we’re more than capable of getting results, that’s for sure.”