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Hearts players' fitness and injuries after Benfica as Conference League dates are confirmed Tynecastle side drop in the Conference League play-off Hearts must assess players’ fitness ahead of Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup tie against Inverness Caledonian Thistle following their European draw with Benfica. A demanding 90 minutes at Tynecastle Park left some players fatigued and head coach Wouter Vrancken is certain to make changes when the Scottish Championship side visit this weekend. Hearts scored first against Benfica on 77 minutes via a superb 22-yard strike by Icelandic midfielder Tomas Magnusson. The Portuguese side promptly equalised within two minutes to level the game at 1-1 on the night. They progress to the Europa League play-off round on a 7-2 aggregate, while Hearts now drop into the Conference League play-off to meet Austrian side Rapid Vienna. Rapid will visit Tynecastle next Thursday, 20 August, for the first leg which will kick off at 7.45pm. The return leg in Vienna is on Wednesday, 26 August, kicking off at 5.45pm local time. Oisin McEntee was substituted near the end against Benfica and Hearts will monitor him over the coming days. Vrancken is hopeful French midfielder Laurent Mendy will be available for the first leg after he missed the Benfica match. “Maybe he goes on the bench on the weekend. Normally, he will start training after the weekend,” explained the Belgian, adding that he will only select players who earn the right to play. “First of all, you have to deserve an opportunity to play. That's an important point,” he said. “So, you have to always show it on every minute you play, but also in the sessions. That's for sure. But again, we have to see with the little injuries. Can they come back? Who can play? And we will not back down. We have to push forward and we have to keep pushing. “It doesn't matter who is the side against you. Today, Benfica and Sunday, we have to show the same work effort and try to do the same things with the same mentality and the same team spirit. So, this is for me the most important. Hopefully, we can recover some players. But I don't think in two days that it will happen too much. So, yeah, we'll see. But Borch [Christian Borchgrevink] is also coming back because he was not on the[European] list, for example. He's fit also on the weekend, so this is one who can come back, of course. The rest, we have to see. “We'll see who is fit for those two [European] games. We have to check with the medical staff who is ready. In one week, in two weeks, we can be able to play some minutes there. And when it's not possible, okay, he's not on the list. And when it's possible, he will be on the list. So, yeah, we'll see.” Defender Harry Milne is close to returning and could take part in next week’s first leg. Vrancken explained that goalkeeper Zander Clark is sidelined at the moment. “He has also a minor injury. So, hopefully, he can also start next week back in training session.” Hearts put in a strong and determined display to hold Benfica to a 1-1 draw and felt unfortunate not to win on the night. “Yeah, very happy. We showed some guts on the ball today, which we didn't in Benfica, especially the first half,” said Vrancken. “You have to take your moments to keep the ball and to give yourself some air and to do something good with the ball, because otherwise the opposition comes back fast. So we did it today and we showed a good performance also. Out of possession, the togetherness was really, really big. The effort towards each other to make a result was good.” Vrancken said players were disappointed they didn’t manage to secure a victory. “Yeah, of course. I think they deserved it with the performance they gave on the pitch. It was also a great play when the goal [by Calvin Miller] was denied. It was a nice goal. The fourth official told me in Dutch that it was a few centimetres. So, okay, but a nice goal from Thomas. And then it's very important always when you score or get a goal, that three, four, five minutes after this moment. These are the most dangerous moments. We have to learn from these moments but, again, we have to see the overall performance today was really good.” The Benfica coach Marco Silva wanted more aggression from his team but admitted that the first-leg advantage was a factor. “It was a good first half from ourselves, we controlled the game very well and had chances to be leading at half-time,” he said. “We didn’t score, we should have been more aggressive and we created enough to score. “The second half was different, not so commanding or aggressive without the ball and the game was more balanced. But we did our job and we’re in the next round. We respect all the opposition sides we play against, my focus is on my team and what they can do. The intensity was different from the first leg but some players needed to get minutes.”