Blair Spittal Embraces European Challenge

Blair Spittal is enjoying his initial experience of European group-stage football and has called on Hearts to draw lessons from their disappointing loss to Cercle Brugge as they prepare to play FC Copenhagen tonight. The team, managed by Neil Critchley, suffered a 2-0 defeat in Belgium during their last Conference League fixture – a match where Lawrence Shankland failed to convert a late penalty when the score was 1-0 – but they have traveled to Denmark with renewed confidence following their first victory in six matches, achieved by defeating Dundee in Premiership action over the weekend. The midfielder stated, “It’s a different experience playing in Europe. That’s what you want as a player, to come to different countries and get experience of stadiums you don’t play in every week.” Spittal continued, “You look forward to what comes and we hope we can put on a performance.” Regarding the defeat in Brugge, he commented, “I think it [defeat in Brugge] was one of real frustration. I didn’t think there was a lot between the teams.” He further explained, “They punished us in key moments and that’s something we need to learn from.” Spittal concluded, “We lost but I think overall in Europe we have performed really well. So against Copenhagen we know it will be a really tough test and we have to concentrate for a full 90 minutes.”