Frankie Kent: Hearts aren't in Europe to make up the numbers

Frankie Kent has called on Hearts to boost their chances of making it to the Conference League knockout phase by maintaining their perfect start in Thursday’s home match against Omonia Nicosia.

The Edinburgh side kicked off their league campaign with a 2-1 victory away to Dinamo Minsk three weeks ago and they can make it six points from two games by beating their Cypriot visitors.

With further games to come against Heidenheim, Cercle Brugge, Copenhagen and Petrocub, Kent senses an opportunity for Hearts to progress in the competition beyond Christmas.

“We’ve got to try to get through, we’re not here to make up the numbers,” the centre-back said at the eve-of-match press conference.

“We want to progress, we want to keep pushing forward, we want to challenge ourselves and I think there’s no better way to do that than playing in European leagues and getting through to hopefully what could be a knockout stage.

“I know there’s a long way to go, I’m not saying that we’re there yet, but obviously if we get a good result tomorrow then we put ourselves in a good position.”

Thursday’s game is Hearts’ second since the appointment of Neil Critchley as manager. The Englishman oversaw a 4-0 home win over St Mirren on Saturday and Kent explained the new boss has “simplified” things following a poor start to the campaign that resulted in Steven Naismith being sacked last month.

“I think it was well known that we needed to get better and improve on certain things,” said Kent. “I think the main thing is he’s just simplified so much. Especially at the weekend, I feel like we just simplified everything.

“We had a good structure and let our top players do what they’re good at. So he’s done that and he’s just encouraging us to play our game and not overthink anything.”

Critchley, meanwhile, played down any notion that Omonia, who have lost three of their last four league matches, will be vulnerable at Tynecastle.

“It’s a real test,” he said. “If you watch the game that they played at the weekend, nine times out of 10 they’d win that game. They were the dominant team, so we’re not fooled by that defeat.

“I know from watching them that they’ve got some good players. They’ve got some really exciting attacking players. They like to dominate the ball and if you look at the background to some of their players, what they’ve achieved, we give full respect to who they are.

“But for me, we always concentrate on us, how we can improve and get better. We respect the opponent but come Thursday night, it’s about us and how we play. We’re at home, so we have to use that to our advantage.

“We want to be a club that’s in Europe and competing against the best. You see today, how the ground is being prepared, it feels different. There’s a special feeling about it. I’m sure the supporters are excited by it.”