“That’s what I’ve had to do. There have been some difficult games out there and you’ll get stick, which is obviously part of football, but you just need to grind through it. Days like Saturday come around again and you get yourself back on the scoresheet and all of a sudden everything looks that bit better.”

He doesn’t appear to hold a grudge against those who made their feelings abundantly clear on where he should go. “I don’t think I got overly caught up in it. I imagine there was a good amount of beer drank out there [in Bruges] as well at that time. They’re stronger than here as well,” he smiled. “Obviously I heard it and it’s not ideal, but there’s been times where they’ve been really good to me here as well. It’s not something I’m worried about.

“It wasn’t the abuse, that didn’t bother me. It was more just missing the pen and the way the game went for the boys. It wasn’t anything to do with the crowd or that. I was just gutted with how the result went. It was obviously a chance to get back in the game. It’s more that feeling, you feel like you’ve let your team-mates down a bit. The run I’d been on previously doesn’t help that, because you’ve not really got much to back it up, to say: ‘Well I did that last week.’ That was the biggest thing, it was me and my team-mates, it wasn’t so much the outside stuff.”

The aforementioned mindset coach was quickly on the case after the final whistle in Belgium. “He Whatsapped me maybe an hour after it, just asked how I was and I said fine. He was like: ‘Right, feel sorry for yourself for the night and we’re back tomorrow.’ Something to give you that realism, it helps at times like that. You need to realise it’s one moment again that has unfortunately not gone to plan, but that’s what it is. When it comes to the end of a season, it’s one bad moment and you need to move on quickly.”

It’s unclear if Shankland will take the next penalty Hearts are given. The question was posed to him, but he did not provide a completely satisfactory response. “I might have fancied it if there was one, after I scored two on Saturday,” he said. “Obviously, I haven’t had a great penalty record lately, so I won’t sit here and say I’ll take it without a doubt. From a self-centred perspective, it’s an opportunity for the other boys in the team to score a goal. Listen, whether it’s me or not, I’ll hit the next pen sometime. I’ll hit it if no one else on the pitch needs to, but we’ll see.

The Scotland internationalist suffered one negative against Dundee with a late yellow card that triggered a suspension. He must now sit out Sunday’s Premiership game at Kilmarnock. “It’s disappointing. Some of the bookings I’ve had haven’t been great, to be fair,” he chuckled. “I’ve not really wanted yellow cards at times, but that’s football. You get two goals, back on the scoresheet and then you get suspended. But if you had offered me that on Saturday morning, I’d have taken it.”

He is available for Hearts’ upcoming match against FC Copenhagen in the UEFA Conference League on Thursday. A win would ensure a spot in the tournament’s knockout play-off round, but a draw might be enough to get one. Copenhagen is a positive aspect. It’s most likely going to be one of the hardest games in this league section. We can anticipate it and go there. We have performed fairly well in the games thus far in the competition. We’ll try to perform well in that one as well and maybe earn three points.