Hearts goalkeeper Beau Reus insists the Jambos will not settle for merely reaching the main phase of the Conference League - they are targeting the knockouts. The Dutch keeper produced two decisive saves in the penalty shootout win over Rapid Vienna that clinched a £5m spot in the league phase.
Wouter Vrancken's side will learn their six fixtures on Friday when the draw is made in Nyon, Switzerland. Reus is adamant they will not just be making up the numbers when they get there.
Reus: We want to advance as far as possible
Hearts missed out on progressing from the league phase on goal difference two years ago. But Reus believes they can go one further this time.
He said: “Of course. I’m not someone who steps on the pitch with a mindset of, ‘oh, it's nice to be here'. Every time we step on the pitch, we want to win.
“And it's the same for this competition. It's just a new competition. You want to advance as far as possible. We will see who we get. And yeah, really excited for the games.”
Penalty plan with cones revealed
Reus says he did not need bottle to conquer Rapid Vienna's penalty takers - he just needed belief and two training cones. He decided against the modern tactic of sticking a list of the Austrian shooters' preferred side on his water bottle in case it got nicked.
Instead he hatched a simple plan with goalie coach Gordon Marshall, who stood on the sidelines holding two cones - one yellow and one red - to alert the keeper to go left or right. It worked as Reus threw himself to his right to deny both Moulaye Haidara and Marco Tilio and seal the Jambos' spot in the group stage.
The Dutchman was coy on details - but Marshall's involvement was visible at the Allianz Stadion. It helped the 6ft 6in shotstopper make the biggest saves of his life.
He said: “Yeah, no doubt. When I saved the second one, I didn't remember to wait for a moment to check if the referee was saying it was ok. I screamed so hard. I think my head almost exploded!
“You cannot imagine how I feel. And also for the fans who came here, I think if you heard them before the game, in the game, it's for them also. A really, really special night to never forget the fans who come with us.
“I discussed their penalties with the other two goalies and the goalkeeper coach, what we were going to do if it went to penalties.
“We stuck with the plan and yeah, happy that I managed to save two. I can't tell you the plan because if we have penalties in the future, then all the guys will know the tactic! But we studied them really well.
“We were afraid that if we wrote them down that someone would take the bottle of water. Rapid did it smart. They had a guy behind the goal and he showed their goalkeeper where to go just before he went to stand in goal.
“So that's one tactic. But if you play away from home, I don't think it's very nice for the guy who has to stand there in front of their fans behind the goal.”
Comeback from a goal and a man down
Hearts had to battle back from a goal down and a man down after Tomas Magnusson picked up a second yellow card on 76 minutes. Landry Kabore's equaliser three minutes later forced extra time before Calvin Miller smashed home a left foot volley to give the Jambos the lead.
Nenad Cvetkovic levelled in the final minute of extra time, but that only set up Reus to be the hero in the resultant shootout. The summer signing from Beveren in Belgium admits it was the biggest moment of his career. The 24-year-old insists he never lost belief even when Hearts went down to 10 men.
He said: “No. In the second half, we were good in the game. We played well. It was just bad luck for the red card. And then you know it will be difficult, but no, I never lost faith one second in a game.
“I have no words - and it's not often that I don't have words. What a special night. If you see the game, how it went and also with the 10 men, it was just a crazy, crazy night to never forget.
“Even just the start of the game was already my biggest game yet but then how it went. You'd have to have a really special game to go a step higher than this one.”
