Stephen Humphrys admits Hearts don't have 'superpowers' but that's no excuse for Fiorentina thrashing

Stephen Humphrys insists a lack of superheroes at Hearts doesn’t mean mere mortals can’t shine on the European stage.

The Englishman’s front foot display was one of the few bright points in a 5-1 hammering from Fiorentina on Thursday night which delivered another hugely depressing night for the Scottish game. Being outclassed at the Stadio Artemio Franchi was nothing new for a side which is now staring at the reality of Europa Conference League Group A elimination unless the final two rounds of fixtures dramatically swing their way.

Humphrys can also look at his effort on goal after only 25 seconds against the Serie A side which came back off a post as what might have been moment but he believes he can lead the way in being undaunted by these types of titanic continental challenges.

He said: “Everyone is human, no-one has superpowers. If you are confident and you believe in your own abilities then anything is possible. I take that into every game. If that goal goes in it might have been different. But that’s what I like to take into every game, hopefully it can rub off a little bit and the guys believe in themselves.

“We have some fantastic players here, international players, there is a lot of talent in the team. So we just need to believe in ourselves a bit more.

“It would have been nice for my shot to have gone in and you’d like to think the game might have been different. But you can’t think shoulda, woulda, coulda, they were the better team at the end of the day.”

It’s a result against La Viola which makes it 8-1 on aggregate over back-to-back games and Humphrys insists there were lessons which were only taken on board after a half-time break when it was too late and they were 4-0 down. He said: “I think we