Rogers Mato has revealed he only discovered he would be filling in at left-back for Hearts on the morning of their Europa League defeat by Trabzonspor.

The Ugandan winger was tasked with marking former Liverpool star Mo Salah amid an injury crisis which has left Hearts without several first-team players.

Salah scored a first half penalty and assisted Franculino Dju as the Turkish outfit won 2-0, but Mato equipped himself well in an unfamiliar role.

And Mato was pleased he didn't get more of a warning from head coach Wouter Vrancken.

"He didn't tell me the night before, he told me in the morning," Mato said

"Because if he told me at night, maybe I would have lost my sleep because [Salah is] the best player in Africa, he was the top scorer in the Premier League, so he's a top player.

"It's a dream come true and it boosts my confidence as a player and as a team because they have a good team.

"It's cool to play against him, you get all these experiences from such players and you saw how he moves one touch and he moves quickly, so marking him is a little bit harder.

"And now I know what defenders and full-backs go on when I try to take them on."

And Mato says he is happy to play more minutes at left-back in the absence of frst choice Harry Milne.

"So many injuries, but it's what God decided, so we have to cope with it," he said.