Robbie wants his memories made of wins
The baggage haul from so many forays by Scottish clubs into Europe is every therapist’s nightmare.
Post-traumatic stress disorders and emotional wreckage from games in far-flung continental outposts.
Hearts were on the couch in Latvia last week and, while it was a win against Rigas, those ageold anxieties lurked just below the surface.
After their Europa Conference League success, Robbie Neilson stopped for a brief chat in the bowels of Skonto Riga stadium.
He was delighted with a result that makes decent Group A reading and puts some air back on the tyres of what was becoming an increasinglydeflated Tynecastle side.
But one off-the-cuff remark was telling.
He spoke about putting these types of games in the memory bank of his players to rack up these experiences.
And learning how to travel to these types of nowhere lands of the European football scene and expecting to leave victorious. He’s so right. Scottish clubs have suffered mental scarring for decades.
It’s dented the psyche and clouded fixtures in places such Latvia, Albania, Estonia that are deemed routine for most other nations of a decent pedigree.
Neilson wasn’t talking about self-doubt. He believes in his team and has assembled a side more than capable of taking care of Rigas FS both home and away.
But he also knows about the back-of-themind niggles. Players need something to fall back on in times of crisis or expectation, a learned experience of what’s gone before and European wins in the bank.
The problem with clubs such as Hearts, Dundee United and Motherwell is they have almost nothing to lean on. Every trip is into the dark unknown and treated with trepidation – a fear of impending disaster.
Golf is a great example of how learned experiences, good and bad, can become coping mechanisms.
Whether it’s a shank into the woods or a pinhigh five iron, each shot is filed away into the memory banks.
For footballers, moments of high pressure are eased by the past knowledge but our clubs go into every European game outside their comfort zone.
It was a classic Euro nightmare set-up for Hearts on Thursday against a side that wouldn’t frighten any team of genuine quality.
Somehow Rigas had come away from Fiorentina seven days earlier with a draw that massaged the fact they are as run-of-the-mill as you get at this level.
But had Craig Gordon not shoved an early shot against the woodwork then it would have been a cue for yet another Scottish inquest.
Thankfully, Barrie McKay is more of a believer than most and his brilliance sparked his team in Latvia.
Confidence surged and a nervous breakdown was averted.
Back-to-back games against Fiorentina now loom for the Jambos. They must look at Rigas as something to build on.
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