A kiosk, a reminder of their amateur days, has been incorporated into their modern home stadium and Heidenheim served up something that left Hearts sick to the stomach here. A majestic flashing header, just after the hour mark, from Sirlord Conteh put the Germans on the way to a victory that was confirmed by another header, this time from substitute Jan Schoppner, with two minutes left. Hearts, meanwhile, rued more profligacy.
This defeat might not seriously hamper their Conference League ambitions – they have another three games to secure the three points that should see them still involved past Christmas – but continuing spurning chances will certainly thwart their hopes of pulling away from the bottom of the Premiership, with some tough games now coming up. This was another match where we were minded to ask: what have they done with the old Lawrence Shankland? The Hearts skipper looked in the mood early on but that did not translate into goals. Not for him, nor anyone else.
He had glorious chances at both ends – and missed them both. The second of these, with nine minutes left, saw flick the ball over the bar when the old Shankland would have just steered James Penrice’s whipped-in cross into the net. To be fair to him, he was having to stretch.
The earlier opportunity, after just three minutes, was The One. It might well have altered the course of the evening had he taken it, and Shankland knows better than anyone that he should have done. All the usual mitigation.
