While he later repeated club-mate Michael Smith’s belief that Hearts have collectively shown Fiorentina too much respect over their two UEFA Europa Conference League head-to-heads, he is bemused why that should be and has urged his team-mates to shake any feelings of inferiority if the want to be taken seriously in European competition going forward.

“Everyone is human, no-one has superpowers,” said Humphrys in the aftermath of the 5-1 defeat by Fiorentina. “If you are confident and you believe in your own abilities then anything is possible. I take that into every game. If that goal goes in it might have been different. But that’s what I like to take into every game, hopefully it can rub off a little bit and the guys believe in themselves. We have some fantastic players here, international players, there is a lot of talent in the team. So we just need to believe in ourselves a bit more.”

A new arrival, he knows the magnitude of this season’s European adventure will weigh heavier on the guys who had to graft through the tough times to get the club there but he claims that they have to start converting pressure into a less toxic by-product if they are to exert their authority at home and abroad.

Hearts pose for a pre-match photo at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence.

“To be honest it’s a massive occasion, one of the biggest in the club’s history, especially at such a historic ground and the fans travelled incredibly and supported us,” continued the Englishman. “I don’t know, maybe we felt the pressure of that a little bit but we have got to approach these games the same, no matter who the opposition is. We can’t go away to other teams in the Premiership and think we’re going to win and then turn up at places like this and not believe. I think that’s the lesson we’ll take from this.”

On Sunday they will face Aberdeen at Pittodrie back on cinch Premiership duty and despite the fact they have won just one of their last five games against domestic opposition, planning and expecting to deliver against the team currently sitting one point and one place behind them in the league table. And, for Humphrys, there is the added incentive of going on a scoring run now that he has started to find the net and a promising bit of form. From a difficult start to his Hearts career, after he joined on September 1 and was thrown into the Premiership fixture with Livingston, he opened his scoring account against Kilmarnock last weekend, grabbing the late equaliser, and then interrupted the flow of Fiorentina attacks to give a modicum of credibility to Hearts’ second half performance in Florence. Both were well-taken efforts that bode well for his strike rate now that he is racking up more and more game time.

“It’s definitely up there,” the Wigan Athletic loanee said of his memorable 47th minute goal against one of Serie A’s most notable clubs. “And it was right in front of our fans as well. Unfortunately it wasn’t an equaliser or a winner but there were plenty of positives to take and we’ll move on. Personally I am looking forward to every game. Last season I didn’t play as much as I wanted to and then I came here and had a stinker in my first game. I didn’t want to come here and not play so now that I am thankfully in the team I want to look forward to every game and take each game as it comes. I am just grateful to play against such amazing players and in top stadiums like this. In the second half there were good signs, if we can take that hunger and desire into Aberdeen then I think we’ll be alright. We’ve got the talent to shine through. But we need to start showing people we are a top club.”

While many of the Scottish clubs have registered performances and results that indicate that is infinitely more difficult in Europe, with Motherwell dumped out by Sligo Rovers and Dundee United slaughtered 7-0 by AZ Alkmaar as both failed to reach the group stages of any UEFA competition, Humphrys says that has more to do with finances than superpowers. Hearts have won one of their Europa Conference League games, but in the other three they have scored just one goal while conceding 12. Celtic are bottom of Group F in the Champions League with one win from four games, scoring twice but conceding nine, while Rangers have lost all four of their Group A games, managing just one goal in response to the 16 they have shipped.

The Hearts players applaud the travelling fans at full time.

“In Scotland Rangers are a top team but when you are playing teams who have budgets like Liverpool and players worth £500-600million, you have got players like Van Dijk who have been in the team of the year, it’s a bit of an uneven playing field,” added the 25-year-old. “But we didn’t focus on that at all. In every game we focus on ourselves and we’ll keep trying to do that.

“I just think the standard of football has improved everywhere. Riga drew with a team this good and the standard is just way ahead of what it used to be years ago. It’s just a case of working hard and improving ourselves against top opposition. And even in games where you might think you are favourites, they’re going to work just as hard as you so hopefully you have the talent to shine through.”

'The lesson we’ll take from this': Stephen Humphrys mulls over Hearts' humbling by Fiorentina