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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Frankie Kent dismisses notion of gulf between Hearts & PAOK

Frankie Kent insists there is no gulf between PAOK and Hearts.

The 27-year-old is adamant that the Tynecastle club have what it takes to turn around their Europa Conference League play-off in Greece.

Frankie McAvoy's side trail 2-1 at the halfway point in the tie, with the second leg due to take place tomorrow night.

Kent knows all about play-off heartache. He experienced the ultimate low with Peterborough in May after they blew a 4-0 lead only to lose to Sheffield Wednesday in the second leg.

The Englishman admits that dramatic capitulation down south will stand him in good stead tomorrow night 

He said: “You always draw on previous experiences, no matter where I am or who I’m playing against.

“It just comes with playing the games and the experiences I’ve had. Greece will be different to anything I’ve experienced.

“Some of the boys have played in hostile atmospheres, so I will be taking a gauge from them in terms of European ties. Things can turn very quickly. PAOK are a good team but we know we can go there and hurt them with the way we played. We showed that last Thursday.

“We are disappointed to be behind but it’s only one goal. We can’t go there full of doom and gloom. We’ve got nothing to lose. We will go out full of confidence and see what happens.”

“It was disappointing to lose the first leg," he added. "It was obviously small margins. Shanks had a goal disallowed and then they hit one from 25 yards. We did our best to try to block it but it wasn’t to be.

“We have to be confident. I feel we held our own at Tynecastle and played well. We probably had the better chances. We know what we can do over there.

“You get the feel of a game early. It was a bit frantic but we said to each other afterward we have nothing to hide.

“We need to go there and show what we can do. We showed glimpses of it at home but we weren’t at our absolute best. We have nothing to lose now.”

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