‘We’ll do everything to get through’ – Naismith on play-off draw

Steven Naismith says Hearts will be fully prepared for their Europa League play-off tie, be it against Ukraine’s Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih or Czech side Viktoria Plzen.

The Jambos head coach anticipates a tough game, but insists he was pleased with the outcome of the draw.

Hearts are guaranteed group-stage football regardless of the result in the play-off. Win and they make the Europa League proper, lose and they drop into the Conference League.

“Two different teams,” Naismith told club media, reacting to the draw. “Plzen have obviously got [European] experience. Kryvbas are less known to us, but they will be tough games.

“Before now and the games, we’ll do everything to research them and put a gameplan together to get through the tie. We’re happy with the draw and we’ll see if we can get through it.

“We’re quite big on the detail we want to go into. They’ve got this tie, so we’ll get a look at the two teams in the games but we’ll want to do more than that.

“The more you’re in [Europe], the more comfortable you are and the more you understand the demands. They are midweek, full houses – it’s all a bit different. The following fixtures are the ones where we really need to be on it.”