Frankie Kent reveals a career incentive which Hearts can help him reach

The English centre-back is in the middle of one of his finest seasons since moving to Scotland

Frankie Kent is experiencing one his most enjoyable seasons in football after joining Hearts from Peterborough United last summer. Now he wants to reach the next level and qualify for the group phase of a European tournament next season, enabling him to realise a career ambition.

The giant Englishman moved to Edinburgh to sample European competition but could not prevent Hearts exiting the Europa Conference League at the play-off round against PAOK Salonika last August. If they secure third place in this season's Premiership, they could guarantee a group place in either the Europa League or Conference League next term.

It is a huge incentive for 28-year-old Kent after spending his career in England's lower divisions with Colchester United and then Peterborough. "Of course, yeah. It was obviously a big thing for coming here to have a chance to play in Europe," he explained. "We got knocked out in the play-off rounds. We just want to finish as high as we can and see where that takes us. Third place is the one everyone wants to go for. Obviously we would like to be a bit higher but that's what everyone is focusing on."

Hearts are 12 points ahead of fourth-placed Kilmarnock ahead of today's match with Motherwell at Tynecastle. The challenge is to ensure there is no drop-off given the huge cushion. "I suppose it is difficult," admitted Kent. "Everyone says: 'I'm not looking at the league.' Obviously, you know the gap, we've seen the gap, but as a professional group we just want to keep our foot down and keep going to win as many games as we can."

Progress at Tynecastle Park has been rapid over the last two months, although Kent said this is nothing more than he expected when he arrived. "I felt this was probably what the aim was. We are starting to progress as a team. At the start of the season it was tough in terms of getting everyone used to it and how we wanted to play.

"We weren't getting results we felt we deserved, although in saying that some of the performances weren't great. We have sorted that out now. There's no point thinking that's us done. We need to maintain it and stay on the front foot."

Supporters have taken to him and devised a chant exclusively for the centre-back who "wears a magic hat". He has started all but two of Hearts' 34 competitive fixtures this season and is a first-choice in defence. "It’s nice to have the fan interaction and them take to me so well, but in terms of myself I expected this to happen in a lot of ways," explained Kent.

"I have confidence in myself to know I could come here and do quite well. Obviously as a team, it has been helped by how results have been going, really. The performances over the last two, three months, that’s what we were waiting for. It took us a while to get going. In terms of myself, I was expecting to do this. I'd have been disappointed if I didn’t. I’m taking it game by game.

"In terms of runs of games, I have been quite fortunate to stay fit for the last four or five years. I have been lucky enough to play quite a few games in that time as well. In terms of performances and the team doing well, this is up there with the best seasons so far."