Hearts’ Conference League campaign continued to unravel in Switzerland as Thun punished a series of defensive gifts to win 3-1 at the Stockhorn Arena. Jamie McCart’s calamitous own goal, Stephen Kingsley’s misplaced clearance and Furkan Dursun’s predatory finish were enough to leave Wouter Vrancken’s injury-ravaged side pointless from three European fixtures, with only a late Stuart Findlay header offering the faintest consolation.
Four days after losing to Hibernian in the League Cup semi-final, Hearts arrived in Switzerland needing a result. What they produced instead was a first half of generous defending - McCart, with time and space but little immediate danger, succeeded only in poking the ball beyond Beau Reus and into the bottom corner in the 22nd minute.
Thun, themselves enduring a difficult domestic season, did not need asking twice. Eleven minutes later, following a swift break from a Hearts set piece, Nils Reichmuth crossed from the right and Kingsley’s attempted clearance presented Brighton Labeau with the simplest of finishes from 10 yards.
Reus prevented a heavier half-time deficit, diving to keep out Dursun and then producing an even better stop from Reichmuth shortly after the restart. But Hearts’ midfield was repeatedly bypassed and, on 56 minutes, Dursun got ahead of Findlay to convert another Reichmuth cross at the near post.
Thun had a fourth disallowed with 12 minutes remaining, Jan Bamert tapping in after Reus had turned Nassim Zoukit’s free-kick on to the crossbar, only for the offside flag to intervene. By then, the outcome had long since felt settled.
Findlay eventually headed home from Jordi Altena’s free-kick in the 82nd minute, but any notion of a comeback had evaporated long before. Hearts remain 32nd in the 36-team league phase, with one point from nine, while Thun claimed their first Conference League points of the campaign.
The wider concern for Vrancken is not merely the scoreline but the manner of it. Hearts have now conceded 44 goals in 23 matches this season, and Kingsley’s second-half departure with a hamstring injury added to a squad already missing 10 players.
“It was just not good enough,” Vrancken said after the game. “There are circumstances, but we expected more from ourselves. Obviously disappointed.”
The Hearts head coach accepted that mistakes are part of football but rejected the idea that injuries fully explain the performance. “The quality was not top today,” he said. “We don’t have to find excuses because the performance was not good enough. You have to adapt to the pitch.”
With Falkirk, in form and full of confidence, due at Tynecastle on Sunday, Vrancken’s immediate task is to restore energy and cohesion quickly. On this evidence, that may prove easier said than done.
FC Thun: Steffan, Mambwa (Strannegård, 79’), Dursun (Christoffersson, 65’), Käit, Roth, Bamert, Bürki, Maier (Kristal, 65’), Dähler, Reichmuth (Zoukit, 72’), Labeau (Gutbub, 72’).
Subs: Spycher, Bürgy, Braschi, Berbaci, Fehr, Ilic, Lengen.
Hearts: Reus, Kingsley (Gillies, 63’), McCart, Braga, McPake (Wilson, 76’), Findlay, Guendouz (Kabore, 54’), Altena, Kerjota (Williams, 76’), Fagan-Walcot, Mendy.
Subs: Clark, Fulton, Pollock, Stevenson.