Neil Critchley tells Lawrence Shankland boo boys to remember who got Hearts into Europe

Neil Critchley refused to point the finger at penalty sinner Lawrence Shankland – and reminded the Hearts boo boys the skipper is the reason they are in Europe.

Shankland blazed a late spot kick over the bar as with the score at 1-0 before Hearts eventually went down 2-0 to Cercle Brugge. The defeat - a fourth on the spin - leaves Hearts on six points from their four Conference League games but still comfortably in the play-off spots for a last 16 place.

But it ended in ugly fashion for Shankland who is still stuck on one goal from 20 appearances this season and last week admitted that, as things stand, he will be leaving the club next year. His fluffed penalty brought abuse from the 3100 Hearts fans crammed in behind the goal.

But Critchley said: “I’ve not spoken to him yet. I think he just needs his own space. He's obviously devastated as you'd expect him to be, after the game in that situation. But I've never criticised a player for stepping up and taking a penalty or missing a penalty. That can happen. We win together and we lose together.

“I understand frustration, I get it. We're desperately disappointed that we've not been able to give them a goal to celebrate or give them three points tonight. It's just natural disappointment, we're all disappointed.

“When you're travelling in great numbers and you pay money and you come a long way, you have that feeling of wanting to have a good evening, as we all do. Unfortunately, that's not happened. We wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for him, because he scored the goals that allowed us to be in this position.

“It's a team game and it's not just on Lawrence, it's on the other players as well. Kenny [Vargas], Alan [Forrest], Yan [Dhanda], [Blair] Spittal, whoever