'Hearts could compete in Europa League' - Gordon

Craig Gordon insisted he would have no worries about Hearts' ability to be competitive in the Europa League if they could overcome Viktoria Plzen in the second leg of their play-off tie on Thursday.

The Tynecastle side must overturn a 1-0 deficit against their Czech opponents to qualify for Europe's secondary tournament for the first time since its rebrand in 2009.

Manchester United, Tottenham, Lazio and Roma make up some of the teams guaranteed to be in this season's revamped competition.

If Hearts lose to Plzen they would drop into the Conference League, but Gordon is eyeing a Europa League place.

"It would be huge for everyone, for every single player, to get to that level and test yourself with some of the best European teams," said the veteran goalkeeper.

"The standard across all the European competitions is so high. You just have to look at some of the names in the Europa League this season.

"We are desperate to be a part of that and play in as big a competition as we possibly can."

Asked if he felt his club were ready to compete at such a level, Gordon said: "Yeah. How do you know? You have to go there and give it your best shot.

"It doesn't matter what competition it is, I think we can be confident of doing well, but we want to be in the biggest competition we possibly can."