HEARTS boss Wouter Vrancken admitted his injury-ravaged side were just not up to scratch as they succumbed to a bruising defeat that shattered any hopes they had of advancing in the Conference League.

Without the services of ten players through various ailments, Vrancken could have done without the calamitous defending that saw his side hand the surprise Swiss champions a first-half advantage they were never in danger of relinquishing.

First, Jamie McCart inexplicably poked the ball beyond goalkeeper Beau Reus in bizarre fashion when under little pressure from a long ball into the box after 22 minutes.

Thun went two in front 12 minutes later through striker Brighton Labeau after more poor defending, this time from skipper Stephen Kingsley.

The home side, who had lost their two opening fixtures in the league phase, added a third in the second half through striker Furkan Dursun and although defender Stuart Findlay reduced the deficit in the 82nd minute with a header, the truth was Hearts were well beaten.

The defeat leaves Vrancken’s men with one point out of nine following a 1-1 home draw against Nordsjaelland and a 2-0 defeat away to Trabzonspor.

Conceding his beleaguered team had shot themselves in the foot, Vrancken said: ‘Just not good enough. There are circumstances, but we expected more from ourselves. (We’re) Obviously disappointed.

‘Individual mistakes are always something that can happen because you are working with human beings. You have to find the energy again.

‘The quality was not top today. We don’t have to find excuses because the performance was not good enough. You have to adapt to the pitch.’

The Belgian also saw Kingsley, who has had his own fitness concerns recently, taken off with an injury to compound a miserable evening. He added: ‘He (Kingsley) wanted to play. This game was important and it’s always a risk.

‘It’s also a risk playing players who have played six or seven games in a row with two days in between. This is the situation we are in.’

Thick smoke from a pyro halted the game soon after kick-off but when play resumed after a lengthy delay — there were nine minutes added on at the end of the first half — Hearts winger Josh McPake drew a save from Niklas Steffen with an angled drive that lacked real power.

McPake fired another effort at Steffen from 25 yards in the 20th minute after he had drifted in from the left, but his powerful shot but was beaten away by the Thun keeper.

There appeared to be nothing untoward on the horizon but then came a Hearts horror show. There was no real pressure on when a high ball came into the box but, with Lucien Dahler at his shoulder, a simple pass back from McCart somehow evaded Reus and slipped into the corner of the net.

Thun’s second goal was also gift-wrapped. The home side broke clear and with pace following a Hearts set-piece and when Nils Reichmuth crossed into the box from the right, Kingsley stuck out a leg to clear but the ball went straight to Labeau who swept it into the net from 10 yards out.

Dursun was shown a yellow card for a forearm challenge into the face of Findlay, and it perhaps deserved more punishment.

The interval gave the Tynecastle side time to reset but three minutes after the break Reus made a diving save from Dursun and an even better one from Reichmuth moments later.

However, the keeper was beaten once again when Dursun got his toe to a Reichmuth cross in the 56th minute.

Nico Maier raced clear of the Hearts defence minutes later and beat Reus with a chipped attempt that landed wide of the target.

The night got worse for the rattled visitors as Kingsley was replaced by 19-year-old Matthew Gillies, called back from a loan spell at Stenhousemuir. 

Hearts were sporadic in their threat. Malachi Fagan-Walcott’s header from a Jordi Altena free-kick was brilliantly saved by Steffen.

Thun had the ball in the net again after 78 minutes after Steffen tipped a free-kick from substitute Nassim Zoukit on to the bar but Jan Bamert’s follow-up was ruled offside.

Findlay headed in a consolation from another Altena free-kick but it was too little, too late, for a Hearts side who next face French giants Monaco at Tynecastle later this month.