Col believes Hearts can live Euro dream

His mind might have been pre-occupied assessing his own players ahead of the new season, but Cameron's Tynecastle years quickly came flooding to the fore. The Cowdenbeath manager utilised the friendly against a Hearts XI to continue preparations for the Second Division campaign kicking off on Saturday, August 6.

The opposition had far more pressing engagements in their thoughts, with the SPL opener at Ibrox on Saturday week followed by a Europa League third qualifying round first-leg five days later.

It is that European tie which prompted Cameron's reminiscing. Two of his most enjoyable outings during a five-year Hearts career came against continental opponents - Red Star Belgrade in 1996 and Stuttgart four years later. They will for ever remain cherished memories.

Hearts will learn their fate on Friday when UEFA conduct the draw for the Europa League's third qualifying round, which precedes the play-off stage to reach the tournament's group phase. Hajduk Split, Omonia Nicosia and Maccabi Tel Aviv are amongst the established clubs they could be paired with, but Cameron firmly expects his former club to prevail.

"Hearts will want to get as far as possible in the competition," he said. "Before you can get to the first round proper you could have already played four games, it's kind of crazy. Almost like a competition within a competition. The names that most people recognise are in the main competition, whereas in the early preliminary rounds you haven't heard of most teams. Hearts have a good, quality side and you would expect them to get into the competition proper.

"It's a great experience playing in Europe for any player, even if it is a preliminary round. They have to try and enjoy these occasions and get the most out of them.

"They will all want to get as far as possible in the competition but you can't take anybody lightly. In these games, it's all about taking care of your own team and not worrying about the opposition too much.

"If you're concentrated and doing the job to the best of your ability, then Hearts, with the players they have, will progress. Whoever draws Hearts will view it as a cup final. They will be a scalp and the players have to contend with that.

"You would hope to draw one of the easier teams. It depends how you approach games, that determines how easy they are going to be.

"Hearts will be fully tuned up by the time the European game comes round. I spoke to Jim Jefferies and he wasn't too despondent after losing in Berlin at the weekend, he took positives from it.

"He won't be under- estimating any opposition because in Europe, especially in these preliminary rounds, a lot of teams are a bit of an unknown quantity."

That did not apply to either of the two aforementioned clubs Cameron faced during his Hearts heyday. "Stuttgart stands out but I remember playing Red Star away from home and it was a real backs-against-the-wall job. It was 0-0 over there and I remember it as a game where every single player gave it everything and we came away with a credible result.

"We came so close to turning the tie around against Stuttgart. Big Gordon Petric had the chance to put us 4-2 up in the tie late on, which would have put us through, but unfortunately it fell to him and not one of the guys you would hope it fall to. But it was a great night even though we went out on the away goals rule.

"A typical European night under the floodlights in front of a full stadium. Those nights don't come along too often so you should make the most of them."

Tynecastle celebrates its 125th anniversary this weekend with the visit of Royal Antwerp and, according to Cameron, the hallowed stadium will have a vital part to play in Hearts' European fortunes.

"With the fans being right on top of you, it helped us that night against Stuttgart," he recalled. "We could have been dead and buried but the fans got behind us and kept us going when we thought we were going to struggle to get back into the tie.

"I can certainly see the atmosphere having a bearing on the outcome of any European tie if they can get a capacity crowd. Teams will find it intimidating, especially in the preliminary rounds. Most of the teams you could draw won't play against crowds like that in their own countries."

Hearts' proposed move away from Tynecastle could mean losing that unique ambience but Cameron would be in agreement with any decision to flit if it improved club finances.

He said: "It's a difficult one that, it really is. Tynecastle is steeped in history with a lot of good memories there for players and fans. However, you need to look at the bigger picture.

"Financially, if the club is going to be better off moving to a new stadium, then you need to look at that.

"In this day and age, clubs are struggling to stay alive. If you need to move to a new stadium to get extra revenue in, I think it's something they've got to do. You might lose a bit of atmosphere but Hearts fans know it is better to have a club than no club."

Cameron got one over on his former manager last night as Cowdenbeath recorded a 2-1 victory over Hearts with goals from Jordan Morton and Lewis Milne.Morton, a Hearts youth player, was ironically playing as a trialist for the hosts ahead of a prospective loan move and did his prospects no harm with a strike from the corner of the penalty box on 23 minutes.

Cameron patrolled the central midfield area but was powerless to prevent Stephen Elliott equalising for Hearts from the penalty spot on 70 minutes after his shirt was pulled inside the box. However, Milne headed Marc McKenzie's corner home with five minutes remaining to secure the victory.