Robbie Neilson admits Hearts have endured a bittersweet European adventure which is now all about booking a return.
A 3-1 defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir brought the curtain down on their Europa Conference League exit which saw Nathan Atkinson grab a late consolation against the Group A topping Turks. But two wins over Latvians RFS and a third place finish are reasons for Neilson to believe his side can learn from the harsh lessons dished out by heavy defeats to Italians Fiorentina and Basaksehir both home and away as he insists the Jambo support have enjoyed a party along the way.
He said: "It’s our job now to get back into European football and hopefully improve on our results next season. It has been massive for the club and massive for the fans as well, they have had four great away trips to enjoy, we have had thousands of fans travel Europe and have a fantastic time.
“I think we’ll look at the positives, to be honest with you. Look, we have managed to get group stage football for the first time in 16 years.
“We have competed, we have picked up six points which is fantastic for us. We have gone away to Fiorentina and Istanbul and scored goals. Yes, there’s a lot of learning within that, you can’t switch off at any second at this level.
“For us it’s about trying to get back here and improve on our performances and result and points tally and get back here. That’s the first thing we spoke about in the dressing room after the game. Can we get group stage football next year and use everything we have learned from this Conference League campaign?"
Neilson is adamant this latest learning curve was a graduation for several of his young players such as Lewis Neilson and Euan Henderson all passing the test as he revealed had no fears in throwing them in at the Fatih Terim stadium.
He said: "They all played well and I was delighted but I thought they would, there was no pressure on them tonight. They just came here to try and implement our game plan and do what they could do.
“Neilson, Connor Smith, Henderson and Finlay Pollock coming on was great to see and this will be a great education for them. Hopefully we can take that forward and it helps them develop."
Neilson will now turn his attention to a Premiership clash at home to Motherwell on Sunday and he admitted last night's loss was against a side which could go the distance in the competition. He added: “We’re playing against a very good team who are deservedly at the top of this group and who I expect to go very far in this tournament.
“I thought we actually defended well, but we lost three bad goals, especially the first one coming directly from a corner after four minutes. We managed to solidify ourselves and get ourselves back into the game but then we lost another bad goal and at this level you cannot do that, we understand that.
“We have said all along that this is a key learning curve for us and the key is we learn from these mistakes and try and use what we learn to try and get back here once again. I think everyone came through tonight fine. We may get one or two back for the weekend, potentially Kye Rowles will be around about it, Craig Halkett maybe, Peter Haring potentially.
“But no matter who is available I think all the guys from tonight should be ready for it. We’ll make changes for the weekend and get back to basics and the bread and butter of what gets us here in the first place."
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