Neil Critchley believes Hearts well placed to progress in Conference League
Victory over Omonia Nicosia maintained Hearts’ perfect start to their Conference League campaign
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Neil Critchley declared Hearts are “in a really strong position” to progress in the Conference League after his first European game as a manager brought an impressive 2-0 home win over Omonia Nicosia.
In the Englishman’s second match since replacing Steven Naismith as head coach last week, the Jambos put their Cypriot visitors to the sword with a couple of emphatic first-half strikes from Alan Forrest and Blair Spittal.
The victory maintained Hearts’ perfect start to their Conference League campaign after their opening round win away to Dinamo Minsk three weeks ago. Critchley’s side host Bundesliga side Heidenheim in a fortnight before further matches away to Cercle Brugge and Copenhagen and at home to Petrocub.
“It puts us in a really strong position,” said Critchley of Thursday’s victory. “Six points from six, four games to go, we couldn’t have asked for any more.”
After enjoying a 4-0 home win over St Mirren last Saturday, Critchley was similarly delighted at how his second match in charge unfolded as his team suffocated Omonia from the start.
“It was a great evening, I loved it,” he said. “Fantastic night. From start to finish, I thought we had a fantastic first half. We started with real intent.
“Our aggression without the ball was excellent. I thought we played some fantastic football as well, causing a lot of problems and deservedly won the game.
“Second half, without the ball, we looked relatively comfortable for most of it. I would have liked to have seen us keep the ball again better. But again, clean sheet, two fantastic goals and a really good all-round team performance.”
Critchley praised Spittal after he made it three goals in as many games and produced a man-of-the-match display.
“I thought he was fantastic, honestly,” he said. “I’ve been really impressed with Blair. Really focused, good technically, can score goals as he’s done tonight. I’ve seen him score, hitting the back of the net on a regular basis, which helps.”
Omonia boss Valdas Dambrauskas conceded his team “couldn’t get into the game in any way”.
“First of all congratulations to FC Hearts and their win in this beautiful stadium and beautiful environment,” said the Lithuanian.
“The way they played was exactly what we predicted and what we talked about before the game.
“We knew the first 15-10 minutes we would have to take a lot of pressure because that’s how Hearts live on the energy from their fans, they put a lot of pressure on.
“And we couldn’t get into the game in any way. We couldn’t impose ourselves with possession.
“We were second best, basically in everything. Hearts were faster, they made better decisions, they were more powerful than us.
“They got the two goals very quickly, and after that it was an uphill battle.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments