As the saying goes, there’s no I in ‘team’.
Cammy Devlin is certainly prepared to put the needs of the Hearts team ahead of his own personal ambitions as a footballer.
The Australian midfielder has been a standout for Frankie McAvoy’s men in European qualification this term. He scored twice against Rosenborg to send the Tynecastle side through to the Europa Conference League play-off against PAOK.
Hearts went down 2-1 on Thursday evening to the Greek outfit, although, the Premiership outfit ran their foes close on home soil. Devlin was earned man of the match in the game and was another standout for his side.
For the return leg in Greece next week, with Hearts needing to score at least twice to ensure progression to the group stage of the competition for the second successive season, the 25-year-old is one more booking away from a suspension. Should the club gain the result they desire, he would then miss out on one of the group matches. That doesn’t matter to Devlin though, indicating he would accept being sent off if it meant Hearts secured the win.
“I think it's important to acknowledge that they’re a good side but, in saying that, I think we showed enough as a team, especially conceding so quickly after we’d scored a goal,” Devlin explained. “The character, the resilience, and the fight within the team - we had enough chances to win the game and had a goal ruled out, which was so unfortunate.
“In big games it is about the moments and that moment went against us. But I still think we showed enough to win the game and we will go into next Thursday with a lot of positives. It’s all to play for.
“I would take a red card as long as it puts the team where we want to be. It's not about me as an individual and I'm sure all the boys who have had bookings will say the same. We’ll do anything and we’ll put our bodies on the line and we will show that in our performances - I know I definitely try to - but it is not about me as an individual. If getting a booking or a red card means that we go through to the group stage then it’s all good.
“It definitely was a physical game. They are a good football side and good football teams have that physical side to their game. They bring it when the game gets tough and it is important for us to be the same. We showed that in moments. Personally, I like a physical game and it helps me get about the park, showing one of my best attributes, which is winning the ball back for the team. Both teams had chances to win the game and unfortunately, it was them that came away with the win.
“All the best teams, the big teams, they come up with performances that put them in positions to play European football and that’s what we want. But playing in Europe is a privilege and something you earn. We are in a position now where we are 2-1 going into an away leg and its roles reversed from last week.
“The moments we did that, it worked and it is just about that final pass, that final moment, putting it in the back of the net. Sometimes those moments didn't go our way but fingers crossed they do next week and we will take a lot of confidence from last week.”
Much has been made of the intense atmosphere that is famously generated by Eastern European crowds, which can make for an incredibly hostile environment.
Devlin highlighted that playing in front of the Tynecastle faithful every other week should stand he and his teammates in good stead for encountering surroundings.
He said: “I personally believe we play in a pretty great, loud place every other week, at Tynecastle and I love being on that side of it, playing for Hearts. Obviously, next week might be something that a lot of us have never seen in terms of the crowd but the game is played on the field and it’s about showing character and resilience.
“There is a feeling of calmness within the squad and the game is played on the field, not the grandstand. It is about us, as players, doing our jobs and winning the game.”
Hearts suffered heavy defeats in their Europa Conference League campaign last season. Fiorentina thumped them for five in Italy, while also scoring three in Edinburgh. Istanbul Basaksehir also took a total of seven goals off Robbie Neilson’s team at the time.
Devlin insists Hearts have learned plenty from those experiences going into the next match against PAOK. In the games against the aforementioned Italian and Turkish teams, Devlin admits they were clearly just better than Hearts. He insists he didn’t have that same feeling on Thursday night.
He added: “If you go back to a game like that with Istanbul, it was a bit of a…well, there’s the gulf in quality and sometimes you’ve got to look at the teams and the budgets that they have compared to us. We as a team and as a club, the fans included, have stepped up and as a team, it has been an experience and that definitely helps.
“There were moments in that game, against a good opposition, which they are, when we had to accept that they were going to have the ball and we just had to keep our shape and be solid in our shape.
“When you come off the field and you know, like last year against the likes of Fiorentina, that they were a better team than us. On those occasions, you just hold your hands up and shake their hand and say ‘well done’ because they are the better team but that wasn’t really the case and I feel there is so much fire in our belly.
“We experienced it last year but tonight we are not walking off that pitch thinking ‘we got absolutely battered’. Not by any stretch. We are taking positives. It has been a massive learning curve playing in Europe and there is a lot of excitement within the group and within the fans. We definitely don't want next Thursday to be our last European game of the season.”
