Sold out in Bruges as Hearts fans travel to Belgium in big numbers
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The away section at Cercle Brugge’s Jan Breydel Stadium is sold out for Thursday’s UEFA Conference League tie with Hearts. A total of 3,124 tickets have been bought by travelling supporters eager to see the Scottish side in European action.
Having been denied the chance to attend last month’s opening Conference League match against Dinamo Minsk, which was played behind closed doors in Azerbaijan, Hearts fans are heading to Belgium in numbers this week. The third of their club’s three away matches in the tournament’s league phase is next month in Copenhagen.
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Hide AdThe Edinburgh side would effectively secure a place in the Conference League’s knockout play-off round if they win against Cercle. Midfielder Blair Spittal is looking forward to seeing and hearing the support on Thursday night. “I was hoping Mum and Dad would get over to one of the games but they have busy lives at the minute,” he said.
“It would be nice but we know we are going to have a big following there on Thursday. I think there’s something like 3,000 going over. That’s a real good backing and I know my family will be supporting us back here tuning in. We played in Plzen [in the Europa League play-off] and the fans made themselves heard. Then against Minsk it was just strange going back to an atmosphere that had been so frequent for a season when we played with no crowd.
“It was a special night in terms of the way it worked out, but this is something we are looking forward to. As a player, you dream of playing in Europe and testing yourself against the best. I’ve not had that many opportunities to do that so it’s important we savour it.”
A particularly horrible previous experience in European competition drives Spittal on at this level. He was part of the Motherwell team which lost 3-0 to Irish side Sligo Rovers in 2022, so winning two of three Conference League ties so far with Hearts has been enjoyable. The 2-1 win against Minsk preceded a 2-0 home victory over Omonoia Nicosia of Cyprus. Then came the 2-0 loss to German side Heidenheim at Tynecastle earlier this month.
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Hide Ad“It’s been good,” said Spittal. “We started the group with two good results. I wouldn’t say the last one was bad, the performance was there, but there were two moments where Heidenheim punished us. Their first goal was a real bit of quality then the second one came when the game had opened up. It was as good a performance as we could have put in. We just never got the result.”
Cercle offer a very physical approach and are familiar with Scottish football after eliminating Kilmarnock in this season’s Europa League qualifying rounds. “I haven’t spoken to anyone at Killie but I did watch the home leg of that tie. That was a couple of months ago so I’m not sure what’s happened there since then,” said Spittal.
“We know it’s going to be tough away from home in Europe. We had a taste of that, albeit in strange circumstances against Dinamo Minsk. Going away in Europe is always going to be tough. You need to dig in and battle hard - and when the opportunities arise, you take them.”
The Hearts players need no reminding of how significant a win would be to their Conference League campaign. “It’s a bit of a strange situation,” admitted Spittal. “Everyone is a bit alien to it in that we didn’t know what to expect going into this format. The league’s the most important thing for us at the minute and we want to get out of the position we are in. But we know if we can keep the performance levels high, the results will come.
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Hide Ad“Against Celtic on Saturday, we put in a really good first-half performance then it dipped a bit in the second and we got punished. Then you are chasing the game. Europe is a chance for us to get away from that. It’s a bit of a fresh approach to games because we don’t know who we are coming up against. Obviously, in the league, you are playing the same teams three or four times. That’s us played Celtic twice already. Hopefully, we can catch Cercle Brugge by surprise and get a good result.”
Saturday’s 4-1 defeat was the third match in succession where Hearts were left regretting missed scoring opportunities. It was a similar story against Heidenheim and Rangers. “It is frustrating but we need to keep getting into those positions and it’ll turn,” stressed Spittal.
“The last thing we want to be doing is coming away from games thinking we have to be doing better in terms of creating opportunities. We are coming away knowing we are creating, it’s just that we’re not taking enough at the minute. There are little ones, like in the second half against Celtic when we hit the bar. And the one where Shanks [Lawrence Shankland] thinks he is offside so touches it back to Cammy [Devlin]. It's one of those unfortunate things that’s not falling for us at the minute.”
Spittal does not get the impression Shankland is unnerved by his goal drought after scoring once in 19 club appearances this season. “I don’t think so. It’s something he’s obviously not used to, especially in the last two seasons where he’s been constantly scoring goals. But in the last couple of weeks his performances have been really good in terms of working the whole backline.
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Hide Ad“I’ve played with him before [at Queen’s Park] and know what he is capable of. I know he will dust himself down and keep going. If he keeps getting into positions, it will turn. The last thing you can do is let your head go down and there’s been no signs of that with Lawrence.”
Shankland’s contract situation has not impacted the Hearts dressing room, according to Spittal. The club captain is in the final year of his deal with little prospect of an extension, and his team-mates are comfortable with the issue. “No, it’s a pretty common occurrence in football - boys running into the last year of their contracts,” said the midfielder.
“Whatever happens, happens and we just need to concentrate on what we’re doing. We have a really busy schedule coming up, so those sorts of things will take care of themselves, whenever that is. Lawrence’s main focus at the minute is on making sure he’s putting in good performances and getting back on the scoresheet.”