Hearts’ hopes of making it into the Europa League were dashed after they suffered a fifth defeat in a row, losing their play-off tie against Viktoria Plzen 2-0 on aggregate.
The Edinburgh side – trailing 1-0 from the first leg in the Czech Republic a week earlier – were in the tie until the 76th minute of the second leg at Tynecastle, when Lukas Cerv’s strike sucked the life out of the hosts’ challenge.
Steven Naismith’s beleaguered side – who have now failed to win any of their opening six matches this season – at least have the consolation of knowing they will parachute into Friday’s UEFA Conference League group stage draw.
There were five changes to the team that started the 3-1 defeat at Motherwell on Sunday as Naismith reverted to a side more like the one that started the agonising 1-0 defeat in Plzen last Thursday.
The most notable team news for the Jambos was that talismanic captain Lawrence Shankland missed out with a knee issue sustained at the weekend, so Liam Boyce – badly hit by injury over the past two years – was added to the attack.
Plzen, who reached the last eight of the Conference League last season, had lost the services of key defender Robin Hranac since the first leg after selling the Czech international to Bundesliga side Hoffenheim earlier this week.
Hearts had the first notable attempt in the seventh minute when Cameron Devlin fizzed an angled shot over the bar after a strike from Gerald Taylor broke to him on the right edge of the box.
The hosts continued to enjoy the bulk of the possession but had to wait until the 36th minute for their first clear chance when a long throw-in from Taylor broke to fellow Costa Rica international Kenneth Vargas in line with the penalty spot but the striker blasted his half volley just over.
Plzen, who had seemed content to sit in and frustrate the Edinburgh side early on, finished the half strongly.
Daniel Vasulin had three big chances to score for the visitors within the space of a few minutes before the break, with the striker denied by excellent goal-saving tackles from Stephen Kingsley and then Taylor before he glanced a header just wide from a corner.
Hearts enjoyed some early pressure in the second half but Plzen did well to take the sting out of the hosts’ attempts to get back into the tie.
The away side almost went ahead in the 64th minute but goalkeeper Craig Gordon made a brilliant save to deny Vasulin, who had got himself clear 12 yards out.
The Jambos brought on creative sparks Blair Spittal, Yan Dhanda and Yutaro Oda and switched from 3-5-2 to 4-2-3-1, and they went agonisingly close in the 75th minute when both Taylor and Kingsley were denied in quick succession by saves from Marian Tvrdon.
The goalkeeper’s intervention proved pivotal as his team went 2-0 ahead on aggregate a minute later when Cerv rifled home a low shot from the edge of the box after a slack pass by Frankie Kent allowed the Czechs to mount a counter-attack down the right.
