Hearts task against Rosenborg is same as Zurich but feels different as football can play tricks on the mind - Ryan Stevenson

Lawrence Shankland and Liam Boyce can make it a memorable and magical night against Rosenborg if Hearts go hell for leather.

Sometimes football can be over-complicated when it’s really the simplest game in the world. And it’s also amazing how a mindset can shift when situations and scenarios seem just exactly the same. Hearts just need to go for it. Everything else needs to be put to the side. If they can manage to get a result and get through this tie, it will just lift everything in terms of the mood around the club. There has been a lot of murmurings over the management situation, then the signings came in late.

Getting a result up at St Johnstone on the opening day of the Premiership season was a good start, but it was deflated a little bit with the result at the weekend against Kilmarnock. But this is a big game against a side with some European stature and pedigree from the past in the Champions League. Hearts need to go after it. It sounds simple, but that is the club ethos and I feel it’s when they are at their best. That’s when the fans get right behind you. When they see players getting after it and having a go.

They’ll accept mistakes and misplaced passes and hiccups along the road if they see the side sweating for the cause. Listen, as I said, football is the simplest game in the world. Run harder than Rosenborg run. Put tackles in. Give an extra yard for every yard they give. I’m not daft. I understand there is a technical and tactical side to the European game and you can’t just rampage around like headless chickens. That’s not what I mean.

The framework and the structure for the gameplan will be put in place, but it’s working off that with enthusiasm and fire. It’s basic stuff, but I always think that’s