Cercle Brugge boss Miron Muslic believes Heart of Midlothian deserved a point from the Conference League clash between the sides.

The Belgians won 2-0 in the Jan Breydel Stadium, going above Hearts in the standings, thanks to goals in either half and between Lawrence Shankland's missed penalty for the visitors.

It was Muslic's 100 game in charge of Cercle but explained that his substitution of defender Christiaan Ravych was a key moment that allowed Hearts to smell blood. He also praised the work of Neil Critchley.

"I told you before guys and I was not joking in the pre-match press conference when I said that my colleague Neil is doing a very good job, I told him this also before the game," Muslic said. "And you could also see we changed eight players today, they changed three players.

"I told you before guys and I was not joking in the pre-match press conference when I said that my colleague Neil is doing a very good job, I told him this also before the game. And you could also see we changed today 8 players, they changed today 3 players so they keep their structure, their rhythm. It's not easy changing 8 players, it does something to a team.

"I saw them very strong, creating some moments. I think we defended it well, they had this big chance with Shankland in the first half and then second half all in, they pushed, they pushed.

"They also realised we changed a little bit something defensively. They smelled a little bit blood and then they've been honest I think and I really mean it, they deserve the point today.

"I think also the possibility to decide the game earlier for us so we don't go into the madness of the last 10, 15 minutes because everything can happen. And you see then even though we defended very well, a moment like this, the handball and the penalty with Edgaras [Utkus] can just change the game like this.

"So I'm happy with the result. It's a good result for us right now. We are on seven points in a conference league. That's a huge step for us."