If Lawrence Shankland had listened to room-mate Alan Forrest’s pre- match prediction, he’d have known it would be all right on the night in Riga.
The Hearts striker revealed his team-mate had called it spot on with his fortune telling ahead of their Europa Conference League 2-0 win over Rigas FS and had needlessly worried about missing a sitter. An evening of high anxiety in the Latvian capital was settled by Shankland’s nerveless penalty and a late Forrest strike.
And the Scotland cap admitted it had all been foretold by the winger. Shankland said: “My wee room-mate, he kind of called it before the game. He said ‘the two of us are going to notch’ on the way out the door. I said, ‘I hope so’ ... and it proved to be right. It’s a great three points for us. We knew it was going to be a tough game going over there. It was a good away performance.
“They’re a decent team as well and came off the back of a good result last week against Fiorentina.
“We had to soak up pressure at times but overall we were good. I managed to score the penalty and wee Al got his goal at the end, so I was delighted for him.”
Hearts may have had to ride their luck at times against a side whose host of chances were repelled by the superb Craig Gordon, lifting the club into second spot in Group A behind Istanbul Basaksehir.
There was an attacking vigour about the Jambos, which proved the difference, and Shankland revealed he was at panic stations during the closing moments after missing a glaring first-half chance.
He said: “Every time the ball went into our box at the end, you’re thinking, ‘Please don’t score’. You are big enough and ugly enough, I’ve missed more than that throughout my career and will miss more. I need to see it back but I think I’ve taken a step thinking Josh Ginnelly was just going to cushion it and then he passed it. I’ve had to change direction and I don’t think I sorted my feet out enough to get proper contact.
“Of course you are worrying for the game, ‘Please don’t come back to bite us’. To be honest, it’s better to miss chances than not get any at all like that last few weeks. We created quite a few and wee Al got his goal and finished it off for us.”
The Jambos had endured a run of only one win in seven games leading up to Latvia, including exiting the League Cup with a last-16 loss at Tynecastle. But with a trip to Motherwell now on the agenda tomorrow, the 27-year-old believes bagging three European points has put the wind back into their sails.
He said: “At a club like this, every result is massive and scrutinised – as it should be. We were disappointed with the results – the cup game against Kilmarnock, Livingston away. It was a great result in Latvia. We go into Sunday, hopefully get a good result there and that will hopefully put us in a good place going into the international break.
“It was also disappointing to lose to Istanbul Basaksehir but they’re the top seeds in the group for a reason. We probably didn’t play as well as we could have but they played really well on the night and it was a deserved win.
“It was not the start we wanted and we emphasised how important this game was for us, coming here with that pressure to win. We handled it well.”
Robbie Neilson’s side now have back-to-back Conference League games against Fiorentina, starting in Gorgie, which could open the door to Group A qualification.
Shankland insisted the Euro adventure is now looking far more positive and added: “The win in Riga has definitely put us in a good position in the table, with Fiorentina coming to us.
“Hopefully the atmosphere at Tynecastle will be good, we can go and get a good result, and go out there and see what happens. It’s been thick and fast with the games but that’s what we’re here for. It’s great to be playing in competitions like this. It’s good for us and we’re enjoying it.”
It’s a second successful penalty for the hitman in Europe after firing home from the spot to give Hearts a lead in the Europa League first-leg play-off away to Zurich.
And he’ll continue to step up to the plate to boost his scoring credentials after taking his tally to five this term on Thursday.
He said: ”People will say ‘it’s penalties he’s scoring’. But you need to put them away and that’s my job as penalty taker. It was another good one so hopefully we can keep winning.”
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