Proud Liam Fox dedicated Hearts’ dramatic last gasp win over Dinamo Minsk to the Jambos fans locked out and forced to watch the tie back in Edinburgh, writes Fraser Wilson in Azerbaijan.
The caretaker boss said the 2-1 win on neutral territory was his greatest dugout moment after Yan Dhanda headed home his first goal for the club in the 94th minute. No punters made the 3300-mile trek to Eastern Europe after the game was moved behind closed doors due to UEFA’s sanctions against Belarus for their involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war.
But Fox knows they’ll have been watching in boozers and living rooms back in Scotland as Hearts ended their wait for a first win of the season at the 11th attempt. It’s the perfect start to the Europa Conference League campaign ahead of Omonia Nicosia visiting Tynecastle later this month and earned the club £335,000 in winnings. And Fox said: “The players worked so hard, so hard.
“I’m thrilled for the players, but the only disappointment was that we didn’t have support here tonight. So I’m hoping that in the pubs and the houses back home, we’ve got them off their couches.
“If you’re going to win a game, that’s the way to win a game. Overall, at the moment, just pure joy for the supporters and the players.
“I’m not sure it’s going to get better than that (for me). As a coach, you chase these nights, you chase these highs, so we’ll enjoy it tonight.
“But the thing about even being an interim manager at this club is that the next game is the most important. We know the pressure that comes having to win as much and as often as we can, the demand from the supporters.
“We get ourselves back on the flight and then we’ve got another huge test away to Aberdeen on Sunday, who are absolutely flying and have been brilliant under the new manager.
“So all focus now turns to that. We’ll enjoy it probably for the next half an hour and then we’ll be back and we’ll see how they are tomorrow morning.”
Fox will again take charge for Sunday’s trip to Pittodrie as the Jambos close in on a new manager. Chief executive Andrew McKinlay revealed on Thursday the long list had been whittled down to seven and that the club are looking to go down a “different route” with the new boss unlikely to be Scottish.
Fox said: “Whoever comes into this job next is going to get a really good set of players. They’re going to work for a brilliant club. Huge demand on it, but a brilliant set of supporters. Whoever gets it next is going to be a lucky guy.
“What really pleased me was the energy that the guys gave and the support and the togetherness and just the attitude to want to keep going and keep going and keep going. And I do believe that the harder the work, the luckier you get. We know we can play better tonight, I understand that. We’re not going to get away from that.
“We’re always looking for things to be perfect but I think tonight was hopefully another step. We’re playing in the Conference League, we’re playing in a stadium that pitch isn’t great, we’re playing with no supporters. So all these challenges, we’ve managed to overcome that and that is purely all down to the players.”