Heart of Midlothian

Hearts' interim head coach Liam Fox told BBC Scotland: "Frustration, disappointment. For large spells, the team were really good, created loads of chances, dominated possession for long spells, showed lots of energy. That pleases me off the back of a challenging week.

"The players deserve great credit. It would've been easy for them to go under and feel sorry for themselves because Aberdeen are on a brilliant run - it's a red-hot atmosphere out there.

"But we weathered that, got ourselves back in the game. I was proud of the players. Their effort and commitment was really good."

On Jorge Grant's dismissal, Fox revealed he was initially unaware the midfielder had been booked before his second caution

"It was heat of the moment, but there's no doubt that, when Jorge got sent off, the flow of the game definitely changed and it had a massive impact," he said.

Colin Moffat
BBC Sport Scotland

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For long spells Hearts were the more menacing side and coming away with nothing to show for their efforts will sting.

They did not look like a side with just two points and one just back from a midweek trip to Azerbaijan, shrugging off the disappointment of conceding an unfortunate goal so early.

The dismissal of Grant was an obvious turning point, with his second booking coming on 75 minutes for a sliding challenge on Duk.

The midfielder's first caution - for dissent after Devlin's leveller - had gone unnoticed by many.

Shankland shot straight at the keeper from near the penalty spot and sent an awkward volley over the top when a header looked the better option.

So prolific over the past few seasons, the Scotland striker was perhaps fortunate to avoid a first-half red card, with his one yellow for a hack on Jamie McGrath, coming in the midst of two tussles with Jack MacKenzie and an angry barge on Slobodan Rubezic.

Shankland's exasperation was evident and the captain was apoplectic when Vargas passed up his glorious chance on 55 minutes.

Hearts will hope to appoint a new head coach before their next outing at home to St Mirren in 13 days and there were signs of promise to build on here, along with the frustrating failings.

Hearts will be kicking themselves after throwing away a great chance to register their first Premiership win of the season.

Blair Spittal's first goal for the club was a cracker and he was a busy presence in midfield, looking more like the player who was so consistent for Motherwell last term.

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Aberdeen striker Pape Gueye was this week ruled out until early 2025 with a quad muscle tear and midfielder Dante Polvara remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Hearts midfielder Beni Baningime will be assessed after going off with what interim boss Liam Fox described as "fatigue" during Thursday's win over Dinamo Minsk.

Musa Drammeh is back in contention after not being included in the squad for European matches. Calem Nieuwenhof (hamstring) and Gerald Taylor (knee) are both out.

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• The last nine league meetings between Aberdeen and Hearts have all been won by the side playing on home soil. Indeed, none of the last 20 league meetings between the two sides have seen an away win (16 home wins, 4 draws) since a 2-1 Aberdeen victory at Tynecastle in May 2017.

• Hearts have lost each of their last eight league visits to Aberdeen, conceding 2+ goals each time, since a goalless draw in December 2017. Their last such win came in May 2016 (1-0) thanks to Abiola Dauda's goal.

• Aberdeen, along with Celtic, are one of two sides with a 100% win rate in this season's Scottish Premiership (6/6). The last side to win each of their opening seven games of a campaign in the competition were Aberdeen in 2015-16 (first 8).

• Hearts are bottom of the Scottish Premiership table with two points in seven games (D2 L5). Should they lose this match, they will be only the second side in the last 19 seasons (2006-07 to 2024-25) to have two or fewer points in their opening eight matches of a top-flight campaign, after Dundee United in 2022-23 (2).

• Hearts have scored four goals from 7.2 expected goals (xG) in the Scottish Premiership this season, the biggest underperformance of any side (-3.2), while their shot conversion rate of 4.3% is also a league low.

Yan Dhanda, 25, had a gut feeling he would score Hearts' late winner over Dinamo Minsk in the Conference League. (Record), external

Read Saturday's Scottish gossip

In: Malachi Boateng, midfielder (Crystal Palace, undisclosed); Musa Drammeh, forward (Sevilla); Yan Dhanda, midfielder (Ross County); Blair Spittal, midfielder (Motherwell); James Penrice, defender (Livingston); Daniel Oyegoke, defender (Bradford City, undisclosed); Kenneth Vargas, forward (Herediano, loan to permanent); Ryan Fulton, goalkeeper (Hamilton Academical); Jamie MacDonald, goalkeeper (Greenock Morton).

Loan in: Andres Salazar, defender (Atletico Nacional); Gerald Taylor, defender (Deportivo Saprissa).

Out: Steven Naismith, head coach; Kyosuke Tagawa, forward (Kashima Antlers, undisclosed); Alex Cochrane, defender (Birmingham City, undisclosed); Toby Sibbick, defender (Wigan Athletic, undisclosed); Makenzie Kirk, forward (St Johnstone, undisclosed); Nathaniel Atkinson, defender (Melbourne City); Andy Halliday, midfielder (Motherwell, loan to permanent); Rocco Friel, defender (Queens Park Rangers, undisclosed); Michael McGovern, goalkeeper (retired); Callum Flatman, defender (Kelty Hearts); Murray Thomas, forward (Kelty Hearts); Peter Haring, midfielder; .

Loan ended: Dexter Lembikisa, defender (Wolverhampton Wanderers); Scott Fraser, midfielder (Charlton Athletic).

Loan out: Lewis Neilson, defender (St Johnstone); Aidan Denholm, midfielder (Ross County); Harry Stone, goalkeeper (Ayr United); Finlay Pollock, midfielder (Raith Rovers); Liam McFarlane, goalkeeper (East Fife).

Read the Scottish Premiership ins & outs in full here.

On Monday, the prospect of travelling to in-form Aberdeen would have been much more daunting for Hearts.

Without a win all season, the Tynecastle side had an awkward midweek Conference League fixture to negotiate first.

But negotiate it they did. Yan Dhanda's added-time goal against Dinamo Minsk in a closed-doors neutral venue in Azerbaijan secured a first win since May and interim boss Liam Fox takes his once again buoyant squad to Pittodrie on Sunday.

Will Hearts be the team to end Aberdeen's 100% start to the season? They will have their work cut out if so.

Dundee gave Jimmy Thelin's side a stern examination at Dens Park last weekend but the Dons came away with a 2-1 win and start this weekend still five points in front of Rangers and only below Celtic on goal difference.

Read all the weekend's Premiership picks

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Hearts midfielder Yan Dhanda says he predicted his match-winning goal away to Dinamo Minsk in the Conference League.

The 25-year-old came off the bench to glance a header into the bottom corner with just seconds remaining, earning Hearts their first win of the season at the 11th time of asking.

"I said to Stephen Kingsley I was going to score when I got on," Dhanda said. "I just had a feeling I was going to score so I was just desperate to get on the pitch.

"I got myself in a good position, I knew where the goal was and I just glanced at the ball and it's gone in.

"It's the first header I've ever scored so I'm buzzing for that as well."

Dhanda believes Hearts have turned a corner under interim head coach Liam Fox, with a league draw at Ross County preceding the win over Dinamo.

"It's been a difficult couple of months," he said. "There are no two ways of saying that. We have had some difficult results but I think on Saturday against Ross County it was a positive step in the right direction.

“I know we should be winning but we came here with a bit of confidence from that game. We have our first win now so it's a positive step.

“We have to focus on ourselves but we have enough talent in that dressing room to climb up the league now."

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Hearts' dramatic late winner - and the celebrations that followed - against Dinamo Minsk in the Conference League showed how determined the players were to end their winless run, according to former defender Ryan McGowan.

Yan Dhanda's 94th-minute header secured managerless Hearts their first win of the season in their 11th outing, after an own goal from Sergey Politevich had brought the Scottish side level in Azerbaijan.

McGowan believes the fortunate nature of the own goal, and Dhanda's winner, are the type of moments that can create both belief and momentum.

"I think it just shows you the mentality of them," McGowan said on the Scottish Football Podcast. "Fans are so quick to label that they don't care or they down tools.

"I've never been in a dressing room that players have gone out and not cared or not wanted to perform.

"So I think the late goal shows they are hurting. Even the own goal, sometimes when you're struggling through the season, you're just praying that somebody does that.

"It gives you something because there was no spark and the guy has put a great header in. There's just those small things that can hopefully snowball, starting off with the league campaign."

Hearts now face Aberdeen - who have won every game in all competitions this season - at Pittodrie on Sunday, and McGowan says it will show the scale of Hearts' progress.

"It is a tricky situation for them - it's a seven or eight-hour flight from Azerbaijan straight to Aberdeen," he said.

"A massive game where know Aberdeen are absolutely flying. All this season they've been building momentum and winning games so it's going to be a real test for [Hearts] on Sunday."

Former Hearts, Dundee United and St Johnstone defender Ryan McGowan says non-Old Firm fans will have enjoyed Celtic and Rangers being given a "taste of their own medicine" by "taking a pasting" in Europe against teams with a bigger budget.

Listen and subscribe to the Scottish Football Podcast on BBC Sounds

We asked for your views after Hearts opened their Conference League campaign with a 2-1 win against Dinamo Minsk in Azerbaijan.

Here's what some of you said:

Gordon: Better from Hearts last night, not pretty on the eye but we looked more like our old selves again. Massive game Sunday and any momentum we can use will be huge, I'd take a draw now but if we can grind out another 2-1 win the season suddenly looks saveable again. Hopefully a new manager in for the St Mirren game and we go from there.

Chris: The performance certainly for me does not give any hope for the future. Up front we still created almost nothing and defensively are as tight as a sieve. Midfielders for most part were laughable and struggled. We scraped a very fortunate and undeserved victory against a side that looked almost as bad as us.

David: What a relief to finally get a win, our passing was really poor and set-pieces and final ball is not good enough, however a win is a win.

Paul: Yet again we are picking the wrong team and need to change our formation, we are picking players who are not up to the mark. We have a big squad but insist on using players that got us in this mess. I'm delighted to squeeze a win but the team we just played were ranked rotten. We seem to be clueless in the last third.

Colin: New manager and identity required as soon as possible. An unexpected win given the current form which is positive and perhaps the players can take some confidence. Too much deadwood in the team.

Kevo: Another building block, trying to do the right things, the final third was frustrating, a step back in the right direction overall.

Chris: We didn't play great, Barrie McKay in particular was awful but it doesn't matter. The history books will show the result. We deserved this, the players deserved this and the fans deserved this. Winning away in Europe is difficult and the players deserve a pat on the back for the result if not the performance. Enjoy your weekend Jambos!

Norrie: No matter what happens, Liam Fox has to be given massive credit for bringing in Forrester. Pity the Old Firm letting Scotland down!

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Frankie Kent hopes Hearts' late Conference League win over Dinamo Minsk can help the Tynecastle side leave their early-season troubles behind them.

Yan Dhanda headed home in the 94th minute to earn Hearts their first win of the season in their 12th outing in all competitions, and Kent says the overriding emotion is relief.

"Obviously we all know the start of this season hasn't been what we wanted and we all take responsibility for that," the defender told BBC Scotland.

"I think the main thing is just relief. It's done now.

"Hopefully our luck has changed now. You can see that from the goals we got tonight, hopefully it's all changed."

Kent says Hearts would be "silly" not to enjoy the victory after such a barren start to the season, but insists they will not get carried away going into their next game, away to high-flying Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.

"We have to [enjoy it]," Kent added. "All the tension that's built up over the past 10 or 11 games, it's been tough to get through.

"It's up to us now. We have got to show good fight and desire to carry on and do it on Sunday [against Aberdeen].

"We don't want to go into the game too high but what we have gone through in the first bit of the season, the 10 games or so and you win a game like this, we have to enjoy it. You would be silly not to."

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Hearts interim boss Liam Fox dedicated the 2-1 Conference League win over Dinamo Minsk in Azerbaijan behind closed doors to the Tynecastle supporters who were locked out of the game. (Record), external

Yan Dhanda's late goal meant Hearts will pocket £335,000 for their win. (Scotsman - subscription), external

Read Friday's Scottish gossip

Hearts interim manager Liam Fox: "I'm absolutely over the moon for the players and the supporters.

"The pitch wasn't great, there's no supporters, - you've got to give credit to the opponent - you're playing some really good players, but what pleased me the most was the players hung in.

"There were some decent wee moments, probably not as much as I'd like but to hang in, it can sometimes take you a long way.

"We weren't great tonight, we had a couple of wee moments. But when you're down there, you just need to keep working and keep believing it's going to turn.

"Hopefully, this is the start, hopefully it's a wee shot in the arm."

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Yan Dhanda’s 94th-minute header gave managerless Hearts a Conference League win over Dinamo Minsk and brought to an end their dreadful run of form.

It looked certain that Hearts’ troubles were set to continue - having gone winless in their previous 10 games - after last Saturday’s draw with Ross County confirmed their worst ever start to a season.

What did you make of the performance, Hearts fans? Did it give you hope for the future?

Let us know your thoughts here., external

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

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This would have been a wildly frustrating night for Hearts fans and staff alike.

Once again, they were up against a team in Europe that seemed entirely beatable. Yet, the answer to the enigma seemed ungraspable for the players on the pitch.

Another low-block that Hearts struggled to break down, more vulnerable defending. It has all become far too common a sight for Hearts fans this season.

Forrest was particularly guilty for his part in Dinamo's goal. Barrie McKay had one of his worst nights in a Hearts shirt.

But interim head coach Liam Fox has once again produced a positive result in the dying seconds. Be it luck or an extra little bit of belief, Hearts have pulled a rabbit out of the hat in the last few seconds for the second game running.

Can they do it at Aberdeen on Sunday? The history book suggests not.

The international break after that game comes at a good time and having a permanent manager appointed when league football returns in late October is essential.

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Beni Baningime. The midfielder was good at breaking up play and distributing - the problems started when the ball was out wide.

However, Baningime has added a bit more grit to the Hearts midfield since he's returned from injury and has allowed Cammy Devlin and Blair Spittal a little more licence to get forward.

A mention for young Adam Forrester at right-back, too. The 19-year-old is athletic, gets up and down well and runs all day. He's only two games into his first-team career and looks solid.

Dinamo Minsk: Lapoukhov, Pigas, Politevich, Sachivko, Rai Lopes, Amian, Kalinin, Demchenko, Podstrelov, Zherdev, Alfred.

Substitutes: Karatai, Okoro, Gavrilovich, Budzko, Selyava, Khvaschinski, Adeola, Kulikov, Pedro Igor, Begunov, Shkolik, Melnichenko.

Hearts: Gordon, Forrester, Kent, Rowles, Penrice, Devlin, Baningime, Spittal, Forrest, McKay, Shankland.

Substitutes: Clark, Kingsley, Halkett, Oyegoke, Grant, Oda, Boateng, Dhanda, Tait, Boyce, Vargas, Salazar.

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Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter in Azerbaijan

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Its just over 3,300 miles from Gorgie to Sumqayit here in Azerbaijan where Hearts will begin their Uefa Conference League campaign this evening but I'm sure the players will be able to hear the noise should Lawrence Shankland, or any of his colleagues, score the goal that would give them their first win of the season.

Unfortunately for the Gorgie faithful the game will be played behind closed doors due to Uefa rules regarding teams from Belarus competing in their competitions.

Baku itself, where the team have been based for the last two days, is a city brimming with history but visibly pushing itself into becoming a modern environment.

The skyline shows new hotels lit up at night in the colours of the country but in the city centre itself there are indications of days gone by with walls surrounding many of the historical parts.

The road on the way to Sumqayit on Wednesday evening was something to behold. Thousands of cars making their way out of the city. Not sure where to but it seemed the 40-odd mile distance from the capital was a constant gridlock of motors.

It wasn’t helped I'm sure by the sheep farmer deciding to move his flock on the outside lane at one point. Not sure they would allow this on the Edinburgh city bypass.

However, all that matters tonight for Hearts is to somehow get the win that would kickstart their season.

And it could just happen here in Azerbaijan. Who says football isn't bonkers?

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Football analyst John Walker says that while Hearts must be wary of Dinamo Minsk's threats, the Tynecastle side are more than capable of making a winning start in the Conference League in Azerbaijan.

Walker has been taking a look at Minsk's threats on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"They've got Boni Amian, an Ivory Coast midfielder who's on loan," he said.

"He's really, really fast breaking from centre midfield. He's got lots of energy. I quite like him.

"He maybe not as technically gifted, if he was, he'd probably be playing in a higher league than the Belarussian league just now.

"But I do think as a team Hearts can go and genuinely win. As much as Hearts are out of form, they've got better players across the park.

"From what I've seen in the Ross County game, albeit only the highlights, a lot of what Hearts like to do is down the sides and getting crosses in from Stephen Kingsley. Lawrence Shankland is also a real threat in the air."

Former midfielder Ryan Stevenson says a win in the closed-door match is a must for Hearts to turn their season around.

"Maybe having no fans there might help them," Stevenson said.

"But the situation Hearts are in right now it doesn't matter if there's 10 fans in there or 10,000, Hearts just somehow need to muster a win."