Robbie Neilson is still holding on to the belief that Hearts can reach the Europa Conference League knockout stages as he hailed the 'absolutely unbelievable' fan base.
The Jambos had 4000 fans in Florence to cheer them on as they crashed to a 5-1 defeat to Fiorentina. The result leaves the capital club trailing the Serie A side by four points in the group section with two more rounds of games to play. Next up is RFS at home with the Gorgie side already tasting success over the group fourth seeds in Riga.
Should the Jambos win and Fiorentina fail to beat İstanbul Başakşehir it would take qualification right down to the wire with the Italians facing RFS and Hearts in Istanbul. Neilson's message was clear as he roared: "We've got to keep believing."
READ MORE: Hearts handed UEFA fines as two incidents on Europa Conference League duty lead to punishment
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Speaking to BT Sport, Neilson said: "Yeah we have got to believe that. We've got Rigas at home in a fortnight then go to Istanbul.
"It's a home game and we'd like to try and take the three points from that and it would set it up for the last game of the group stage and we've got to keep believing.
"We had an absolutely unbelievable fan base here tonight. 4000 and even at 4-0 they are absolutely singing their hearts out and I think it really pushed the players on.
"They deserved to see that energy. Although we are really disappointed with the first half, I am proud of the players second half because they showed that belief and as we said it is a learning curve that they can take forward for the next games."
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