Hearts head coach Steven Naismith is confident his team can reach the Europa League despite being without Lawrence Shankland for the play-off second leg against Viktoria Plzen.

Scottish striker Shankland is doubtful for Thursday’s game at Tynecastle due to a knee injury. Hearts will be looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg.

“Absolutely,” Naismith said. “I think Kenneth Vargas has had more shots on goal than Lawrence in all games this season, but it’s about capitalizing on them.”

“Liam Boyce has made a strong impression in pre-season, he has had to be patient and we have James Wilson who is young and eager.

“But it’s not just about the strikers. We have to create good chances. We’re doing that with people like Blair Spittal, Yan Dhanda and Jorge Grant.”

A win against the Czechs will see Hearts secure another eight games in Europe’s second-tier competition, but a loss would see them relegated to the Conference League.

“The reward at the end of those 90 minutes, maybe 120 minutes, is huge,” Naismith said.

“This very rarely happens to teams outside the Old Firm. We have a great opportunity.”

“We played against them last week and were dangerous and defended really well until the last action of the game, so it’s within our reach.

“We need to do things better domestically than we have done so far, but it would be a fantastic achievement if we could achieve that.”