Hearts players look dejectedSNS

All three of Thun's goals came from sloppy Hearts defending

George O'Neill
BBC Sport Scotland

Hearts remain without a win in the Conference League after Swiss champions Thun took advantage of the Scottish outfit's slipshod defending in Switzerland.

Off the back of Sunday's League Cup semi-final defeat by city rivals Hibernian, Wouter Vrancken's injury-ravaged squad travelled to Switzerland in need of a shot of optimism.

Instead, they shot themselves in the foot twice and were left facing an uphill battle.

First, Jamie McCart scored a horror own-goal, poking past goalkeeper Beau Reus into the bottom corner under relatively little pressure.

Twelve minutes later, Stephen Kingsley's attempted clearance presented Brighton Labeau with a straightforward finish to make it 2-0.

Thun could have been further ahead before half-time, but Reus saved well from Nils Reichmuth.

Thun - struggling domestically themselves - threatened every time they turned the ball over and a third goal came on 56 minutes as Furkan Dursun got in front of Stuart Findlay to beat Reus at the near post.

Findlay headed a late consolation goal for the Tynecastle outfit, but a comeback was never on the cards.

Hearts are 32nd in the 36-team table with one point, while Thun are 20th on three.

Graphic

Hearts analysis: Another injury worry compounds defensive howlers

With Calvin Miller and Tomas Magnusson missing from the team that started at Hampden, Vrancken picked McCart and Kingsley as his full-backs amid a makeshift defence and midfield.

The Belgian coach has earned plaudits for his team's attacking play this season, but Hearts have now conceded 44 goals in 23 matches in all competitions.

The three they shipped in Thun were all avoidable and it could have been more with their midfield easily bypassed and their back four failing to do the basics.

Thun had a fourth goal disallowed in the second half which neatly summed up Hearts' struggles.

Jan Bamert tapped home from close range after Reus turned Nassim Zoukit's free-kick on to the crossbar, with those in white stood stock still. Only the offside flag spared Hearts' blushes.

Perhaps the biggest worry for Vrancken and Hearts supporters was that Kingsley appeared to go off with an injury in the second half, replaced by Matthew Gillies, who was on loan at Stenhousemuir until earlier this week.

With in-form Falkirk coming to Tynecastle on Sunday, Vrancken could desperately do with some positive news on the injury front.

What they said

Hearts' Vrancken on Thun defeat

Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken: "Just not good enough. There are circumstances, but we expected more from ourselves. Obviously disappointed.

"Individual mistakes are always something that can happen because you are working with human beings. You have to find the energy again.

"The quality was not top today. We don't have to find excuses because the performance was not good enough. You have to adapt to the pitch.

"[Stephen Kingsley] wanted to play. This game was important and it's always a risk. It's also a risk playing players who have played six or seven games in a row with two days in between. This is the situation we are in."

Player of the match

F. Dursun
7.20
9 F. Dursun
7.20
2 O. Mambwa
7.12
37 L. Dähler
7.07
14 M. Käit
7.00
16 J. Roth
7.00
96 B. Labeau
7.00
19 J. Bamert
6.93
23 M. Bürki
6.87
30 N. Maier
6.75
70 N. Reichmuth
6.29
18 T. Strannegård
6.14
1 N. Steffen
6.06
33 M. Gutbub
6.00
26 N. Christoffersson
5.86
15 P. Kristal
5.80
13 N. Zoukit
5.69
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