Neil Critchley couldn’t hide his delight after his Hearts team handed him a win on his European debut.
The Englishman was buzzing to take charge of his first match on the continental stage in front of a packed and raucous Tynecastle – and a victory and clean sheet was the cherry on top of the icing on the cake.
It means the Jambos are two from two in the competition and the new boss has the exact same record after taking over last week.
A smiling Critchley spoke to the media after the match and extolled the virtues of various elements of the performance.
Blair Spittal shines for Hearts
Amongst the factors pleasing the manager was his team’s ability to respond to him making various changes to the line-up but still move seamlessly from the weekend win over St Mirren. He puts that down to the work done on the training pitch.
He insists it was a real team performance but does admit there was some individual brilliance within that.
Blair Spittal in particular was one who shone for Hearts, scoring his third goal in as many games and acting as the tormenter-in-chief for the Cypriot side.
That was put to his boss and he replied: “I thought he was fantastic, honestly. I’ve been really impressed with Blair. Really focused, good technically, can score goals as he’s done tonight. He’s hitting the back of the net on a regular basis which helps.
“But I thought it was a good all-round team performance. I thought Cam Devlin in the middle of the park, tireless work. The amount of regains and interceptions he got for the team.
“I thought Shanks up front gave a real captain’s performance. Other than the goalkeeper making an unbelievable save he would of got a goal. The two centre-backs again, I can’t fault anyone.”
Critchley identifies what Hearts can still do better
Despite the boss beaming his way through the post-match presser, he is not completely satisfied or resting on his laurels.
He credits the work the players have put in but insists they can improve still be better at keeping the ball.
Critchley added: “Mal and Cam got through tireless work. They were giving us a bit of a problem with the number ten dropping into the left pocket.
“We were contemplating changing to go five to try and block the middle of the pitch but we didn’t want to change the formation because that can have an effect somewhere else and we haven’t worked on that yet.
“So I just felt even though they had some of the ball in front of us they weren’t really getting to our goal.
“But the work we put in as a team was brilliant. I want us to keep the ball better and play better football.
“I think fatigue set in and we’ve got to train our brain better during the week. It’s difficult with the period we’re in but that’s the challenge and that’s the plan for the future.”