Wouter Vrancken hailed auxiliary left-back Rogers Mato for the way he stepped into the breach against Mohamed Salah as injury-hit Hearts produced a spirited display in a 2-0 Conference League defeat away to Trabzonspor.

The Jambos arrived in Turkey decimated by the absence of a string of key midfielders and defenders on the back of a 7-1 hammering at Celtic Park on Sunday.

And they were dealt another major blow as it emerged ahead of kick-off that left-back Harry Milne had suffered suspected anterior cruciate ligament damage while training at Papara Park the night before the match.

Mato was a surprise choice to deputise at left-back and the Uganda winger produced a brilliant display as Hearts averted pre-match fears of a heavy beating.

Salah edged the hosts in front with a 32nd-minute penalty before the former Liverpool star teed up Franculino for the second in the 58th minute.

On starting Mato at full-back, Hearts boss Vrancken told BBC Scotland: “Yeah, I just talked with him today, actually, because Harry dropped out yesterday.

“So I talked with Rogers today, but he was really clear in this conversation. ‘No problem’, he said, and I told him a bit about his position, about also guarding Salah.

“I knew that he could match up the pace there and also I know that Rogers, when he’s focused, that he’s really strong in one-on-one duels especially for an offensive player.

“So I’m happy to see that it worked out because if Salah scores two, three times, everybody says it was a wrong decision and not a good one, but yeah, you have to have confidence in some guys.

“And when you see some guys playing out of position because the need was there… we had only one midfielder left to play, six injured. So also there, Jordi Altena, his performance out of position (in midfield) was also great.

“So I’m happy to see those things happening and that we can bounce back from the result of last weekend and have a good team performance.”

Hearts’ injury woes deepened ahead of Sunday’s trip to Motherwell as right-back Christian Borchgrevink was forced off late in the first half, while Trabzonspor had Sidny Lopes Cabral sent off in stoppage time for a second bookable offence.

The defeat leaves the Edinburgh side with one point from two Conference League games ahead of their trip to Swiss champions Thun in a fortnight, and Vrancken – despite the injuries – felt there was plenty to be heartened by.

“We were against a good team, who paid so much money for new players and even got Salah on a free transfer, so they have a lot of quality in their team,” said the Belgian.

“But what we showed against this individual quality was a real team (effort) today. I was really proud of the performance.”