Andy Halliday admits Hearts need to take points from RFS over their two games if they've to stand a chance in their Europa Conference League section.
Robbie Neilson's side suffered a 4-0 loss at Tynecastle last week in their opening game of the section against top seeds Istanbul Basaksehir, who arrived in the capital on a 23 unbeaten run. Following the big loss, the squad had a chat with Halliday revealing the home side were hugely disappointed with the outcome.
Five games remain in the section starting with a clash in Latvia against the pot four side. They dumped out Linfield on penalties to reach this stage of the competition and then picked up a stunning result in Florence as they shared the spoils with Fiorentina on matchday one. The hosts boast a much superior height difference with a number of their players standing at 6ft3 plus. This will present a challenge to Hearts both in an attacking and defensive sense as they bid to get off the mark on Thursday night - and put their poor run of form to bed.
READ MORE: Hearts star Craig Halkett on Europa Conference League lesson as he targets points in Riga
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Halliday said: “That’s a chat we had after the game. There’s a huge feeling of disappointment when you lose your opening game 4-0, especially in the manner of our second half performance. But it’s one game out of six and we played a Pot 1 team who were 23 games unbeaten going into the match.
“So we knew we were facing a very good side. I know it’s cliched but it has to be a lesson and we have to take the positives from the first half and try and use that to our benefit over the remaining five games.
"The boys feel we have to take points against Riga over the two games if we want to do anything in this group. We are going over on Thursday to try to get a positive result.”
He continued: “We looked at that. I think their three centre-halves are all 6ft 2in-plus, the striker is 6ft 2in, the two midfielders are 6ft-plus. We aren’t the biggest side, either. We also spoke about the fact we’ve conceded too many set-pieces since the start of the season. With the height Rigas have, we have to deal with that better.
“I’m sure we will do plenty work on it. In Europe, one thing that’s really important is when you are in possession, you can’t turn it over quickly. If we start playing more direct, I think it will play into their hands with the size they have. We showed in the Zurich games that, when we play, we cause teams problems.”
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