Neil Critchley believes Hearts well placed to progress in Conference League

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.”