Stephen Humphrys insists a lack of superheroes at Hearts doesn’t mean mere mortals can’t shine on the European stage.
The Englishman’s front foot display was one of the few bright points in a 5-1 hammering from Fiorentina on Thursday night which delivered another hugely depressing night for the Scottish game. Being outclassed at the Stadio Artemio Franchi was nothing new for a side which is now staring at the reality of Europa Conference League Group A elimination unless the final two rounds of fixtures dramatically swing their way.
Humphrys can also look at his effort on goal after only 25 seconds against the Serie A side which came back off a post as what might have been moment but he believes he can lead the way in being undaunted by these types of titanic continental challenges.
He said: “Everyone is human, no-one has superpowers. If you are confident and you believe in your own abilities then anything is possible. I take that into every game. If that goal goes in it might have been different. But that’s what I like to take into every game, hopefully it can rub off a little bit and the guys believe in themselves.
“We have some fantastic players here, international players, there is a lot of talent in the team. So we just need to believe in ourselves a bit more.
“It would have been nice for my shot to have gone in and you’d like to think the game might have been different. But you can’t think shoulda, woulda, coulda, they were the better team at the end of the day.”
It’s a result against La Viola which makes it 8-1 on aggregate over back-to-back games and Humphrys insists there were lessons which were only taken on board after a half-time break when it was too late and they were 4-0 down. He said: “I think we showed them too much respect, to be honest. In the second half we came out and showed a lot more fight and hunger. We scored a good goal and gave a good account of ourselves.
“To be honest it’s a massive occasion, one of the biggest in the club’s history, especially at such a historic ground. The fans travelled incredibly and supported us. I don’t know, maybe we felt the pressure of that a little bit.
“But we have got to approach these games the same, no matter who the opposition is. We can’t go away to other teams in the Premiership and think we’re going to win and then turn up at places like this and not believe. “I think that’s the lesson we’ll take from this. So it’s a lesson learned, we move on to Sunday.”
Qualification is still not out of the question for Hearts despite needing wins over Latvian’s RFS and Istanbul Basaksehir in their two remaining games and hope Fiorentina don’t amass more than one point from their fixtures.
Humphrys managed to give the Jambos fans something to celebrate with a goal just after the break to follow-on from his late leveller against Kilmarnock last weekend and the 25-year-old is just desperate to continue that form after a false start with a below par debut against Livingston.
He said: “Personally I am looking forward to every game. Last season I didn’t play as much as I wanted to and then I came here and had a stinker in my first game. I didn’t want to come here and not play so now that I am thankfully in the team I want to look forward to every game and take each game as it comes.
“I am just grateful to play against such amazing players and in top stadiums like Fiorentina’s.”
It’s been another dismal week for Scottish football’s European participants with Hearts joining the Old Firm in a hat-trick of defeats but Humphrys is adamant the bar has been raised across the continental board. He said: “I just think the standard of football has improved everywhere. Riga drew with a team this good in their game against Istanbul Basaksehir.
“The standard is just way ahead of what it used to be years ago. It’s just a case of working hard and improving ourselves against top opposition. Even in games where you might think you are favourites, they’re going to work just as hard as you so hopefully you have the talent to shine through.”
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