Hearts fans may not like it but Europa Conference League nights are a free hit - Ryan Stevenson

Hearts fans may not thank me for saying this but Europe this season is a free hit. Great days abroad, brilliant trips to Riga, Florence and Istanbul for the Jambos on tour.

Genuinely, these are games to be enjoyed and it's the chance for the club to start building an appreciation and learning about football on the continent. It was never going to be as easy as just turning up against these sides and excelling. This season it's about building, coping with the demands of travelling and all of the logistical stuff which goes with being in a group against clubs from across the continent.

It's another Europa Conference League night on Thursday against Rigas FS but one eye should be already focused on facing Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday. I'm not that fussed about the result in Riga and elsewhere, the same can't be said about the league games.

It's the flip side of the coin for the club and they can't afford to allow things to slip. Hearts sit on the borderline for how this campaign is about to pan out domestically.

One win in their last seven games isn't a good look but they are still sitting level on points beside Aberdeen and Motherwell in joint third spot. Nobody is ringing the alarm bells just yet.

Europe is the icing on the cake, it's the bread and butter of the Premiership which they need to be 100-per-cent focused on. If they aren't bang at it, then Hearts will find themselves sliding down the table and by Christmas they could be fifth, sixth or worse and then it will become so hard to rectify the situation.

I know how difficult it is when you are trying to claw things back going into the turn of the year. Make no mistake, the league will always be the biggest and most important thing for the club.

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