Blair Spittal declared Hearts have a sense of “unfinished business” in the Conference League as they bid to secure a return to the league phase by eliminating Rapid Vienna on Wednesday.
The play-off round tie is delicately poised at 2-2 after the first leg at Tynecastle last week.
Captain Spittal is hoping his side can pull off a memorable result in the Austrian capital as Hearts strive to make amends for blowing the chance to make it to the knockout phase under Neil Critchley in the 2024-25 campaign after winning their opening two league-phase matches.
“It feels like probably a wee bit of unfinished business if we were to get through to it,” said Spittal. “I think we started the league phase ever so well and I remember there being a stat, showing that we had a high-percentage chance of going through the group after the first two games, and we managed to muck that one up to be honest.
“So there’s a wee bit of a sour taste from that perspective.
“Obviously that wasn’t a great season for the club, but since then the club’s taken massive strides and we’re in a good place.
“Also, the two previous ties that we’ve had (against Sturm Graz and Benfica), we’ve played against some right top teams and we’re playing against another good team tomorrow, so we know we’re going to need to be at our best to put ourselves in a position to go through, and that’s what we’re looking to do.
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“We know that we’ve got the capabilities to go and score goals. I think you can see the progress in the team. The main thing tomorrow is that we go out and put on a good performance and make sure we’re in the hat for the league phase.
“Hopefully if we can get through, we can cause teams problems.”
Hearts arrived in Vienna without injured left-back Harry Milne, but midfielder Laurent Mendy is back in contention. Boss Wouter Vrancken views his side as underdogs but is confident they have the ability to get through.
“It’s a massive game,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it. Our fans will be here in big numbers and we have to make the best of it.
“We have to put it all out there to have a good result. There is only one objective, and that is getting through to the league phase.
“It will be a special atmosphere, also for Rapid it’s a very important game, knowing that maybe we are the underdog in the game on paper, but again, we expect them to go full and that the pressure will be strong.
“We have to be spot-on to take the result, but we felt also last week that there is a chance to play, there is a possibility to play, and we believe in the chances we’ve got.”
