Cammy Devlin devastated by repeat Hearts offending as he tells Jambos how they can make up for Europa League exit

Devastated Cammy Devlin admits Hearts have allowed a golden Europa League opportunity to slip from their grasp.

And the Aussie midfielder has demanded his team mates roll their sleeves up and prove they are good enough to grab the lifeline offered by the Conference League. Frustration was written all over Devlin’s face in the aftermath of Thursday’s brutal 1-0 play-off defeat to Viktoria Plzen at Tynecastle that consigned the Jambos to the third tier UEFA tournament on the back of a 2-0 aggregate flop.

Five defeats on the spin and a winless run stretching back to the end of last season has seen dark clouds gather over Gorgie. Brassed-off supporters booed Steven Naismith and his players down the tunnel as Plzen celebrated clinching a potential £12m Europa League jackpot. But Devlin insists Plzen - who reached the quarter finals of the Conference League last year after winning all six of their group stage matches - have shown what’s possible.

Now with Dundee United visiting on Premiership business tomorrow, Devlin knows a win at all costs is absolutely vital heading into the international break if Hearts side are to get supporters back on side. Then they can look forward with positivity to a second bite of the Euro cherry where they were yesterday drawn to face FC Copenhagen, Cercle Brugge, Heidenheim, Omonoia Nicosia, Petroclub and Dinamo Minsk.

Devlin said: “I’m devastated once again. I keep feeling like I'm saying the same thing the past couple of weeks. It does feel like the Europa League has just slipped away from us. I'm gutted because the reward at the end of that for us as players, for the fans, for the club as a whole, would just show how far we have come. It would have just been a massive achievement.

“We've