I watched Hearts seal Conference League qualification: £4m boost and redemption in Austria after Celtic shock

The night after Celtic had collapsed in Linsk, the ten-man Gorgie side stood tall in Vienna, beating SK Rapid 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw, the same scoreline as the first leg.

The victory will be worth around £4 million to the club and guarantees them European football until Christmas. They can look forward to Friday’s draw in the knowledge they have six more fixtures to play in this competition.

This was also Hearts’ sixth European qualifying tie of a season that has barely got going in a domestic sense. They had already tumbled out of the Champions League and the Europa League and the fear was that they might find themselves eliminated from three Uefa competitions by August - before the Edinburgh Festival had even finished.

That they were not is testament to a group of players who grew into the second leg and dealt with every setback that came their way. Theirs was a performance worthy of a five-star review.

They trailed 1-0 at half-time to Ercan Kara’s back-post tap-in and were then reduced to 10 men in the 76th minute when Tomas Magnusson was sent off, rather harshly, for a second yellow card. It looked bleak for the visitors but Pierre Landry Kabore chested home a Blair Spittal corner three minutes later to take the match into extra time.

Hearts took the lead in stunning fashion in the first half of the extra 30 minutes as Kabore broke away and played in fellow sub Rogers Mato. His cross to the back post was met on the volley by Calvin Miller who finished spectacularly with his left foot. It was a wonderful moment and a wonderful goal and looked as if it had won the tie for Hearts.

But Rapid equalised in the 119th minute when Nenad Cvetkovic bundled home a cross from Moulaye Haidara to make it 2-2 and take it to penalties.

Beau Reus, Hearts’ Dutch goalkeeper, was the hero of the shoot-out, saving from Haidara and Marco Tilio to seal a famous victory in Vienna.

Dealing with the blows

Hearts lost influential midfielder Tom Renaud as early as the 12th minute when Rapid’s Petter Dahl fell on his ankle after a foul by Jordi Altena. He was taken off on a stretcher, replaced by Magnusson, whose night was also to end prematurely.

There was another injury-enforced change at half-time when Stuart Findlay had to go off, necessitating a defensive reshuffle. Christian Borchgrevink - a right-back - came on at left-back, and Jamie McCart moved into the centre to partner Oisin McEntee.

This could have disrupted Hearts but, in truth, they were far better in the second half than they had been in the opening 45 minutes, despite Magnusson’s dismissal with 14 minutes of the match remaining. The Icelandic midfielder had been unlucky to be booked in the first half as he stretched into a tackle on Dahl. His second yellow for a trip on Jannes Horn also looked harsh.

The midfield problems didn’t end there. Blair Spittal was injured in the 90th minute and didn’t reappear.

Super sub Kabore takes game into extra time

It’s fair to say that Pierre Landry Kabore hasn’t been entirely convincing in a Hearts jersey but the Burkina Faso international was the difference-maker in Vienna.

Relegated to the bench as James Wilson started up front, Kabore replaced the teenager in the 74th minute and was excellent. He had only been on the park for five minutes when he scored the equaliser and then showed impressive composure to find Mato in the first half of extra time in the move that led to Hearts’ second goal. Calmness on the ball is not a trait that has always been associated with Kabore but he showed up when it mattered.

Wilson, making his 50th competitive appearance for Hearts, was making his first start for the club in over a year and worked hard and showed some nice touches without really threatening. The teenager can hopefully now use this as a springboard for the remainder of the season.

Calvin Miller’s volley good show

Miller showed last season with Falkirk what a classy player he is and his volleyed finish for Hearts’ second goal will be replayed for years to come.

The midfielder swivelled and hooked his left foot around Mato’s cross to put Hearts 2-1 ahead. He injured himself in the process and then was hurt again as he blocked a Rapid shot from close range.

By the end of extra time he was hobbling around but still volunteered to take the first penalty of the shoot-out and slotted it past Niklas Hedl. An immense performance from the winger.

Hearts spot on in shoot-out

Having played so well with 10 men, it was a real blow to Hearts to concede with a minute remaining of extra time but they kept their heads for the penalties.

Miller, Altena, Mato and the outstanding Sabah Kerjota converted Hearts’ first four. Kara, Louis Schaub and Yusuf Demir found the net for Rapid but Reus dived to his right to save the Vienna club’s third effort from Haidana.

That meant Oisin McEntee had the chance to win the game for Hearts. The Irish midfielder-cum-defender had been excellent all night but his effort from the spot was saved by Hedl. Marco Tilio, the one-time Celtic striker, had the chance to take the shoot-out to sudden death with Rapid’s fifth penalty but Reus produced a brilliant two-handed save, again to his right.

The Australian had his head in his hands as the Hearts players rushed to the opposite end of the pitch to celebrate in front of around 1000 travelling fans. Head coach Wouter Vrancken sprinted on to join them.

Applying balm after a grizzly Tuesday night

Celtic’s disintegration against LASK threatens to leave a scar on Scottish football that could take a long time to heal. Their 5-1 defeat in Linz on Tuesday after a 3-0 victory in the first leg in Glasgow was a humbling not just for the club but the wider game in this country.

Hearts, too, have had trouble in Austria - they were beaten 6-0 on aggregate by Strum Graz in a Champions League qualifier last month.

Reputation and pride were on the line on their return to the country on Wednesday and they produced something very special. It was a performance about guts more than anything else as they played for 44 minutes with ten men.

It means there will be at least one Scottish team in the Conference League, with Rangers, Hibs and Motherwell bidding to join them on Thursday.

A nod to Mike Galloway and the boys of ’88-89

This was Hearts’ first competitive game in Vienna since their famous win over Austria Vienna in November 1988 in the Uefa Cup second round.

After a goalless first leg at Tynecastle, the Edinburgh side won 1-0 through a goal by Mike Galloway, the versatile Euro specialist who died earlier this year at the age of 60.

Galloway was Hearts’ top scorer in the Uefa Cup in the 1988-89 season, netting five times as Hearts reached the quarter-finals where they beat Bayern Munich 1-0 at home before losing 2-0 away.

Galloway looked more than slightly offside when he nodded home Walter Kidd’s cross after a delightful diagonal ball by Eamonn Bannon in the Prater Stadium. On Wednesday night in Vienna, it was Kabore, Mato and Miller who emulated the Bannon-Kidd-Galloway triangle to help Hearts to a victory that will go down as one of their great European nights.