Petrocub boss Andrei Martin has warned Hearts the Moldovan minnows may be out – but they’re not down.
The Hîncești-based club have no chance of making it through to the play-offs having taken just one point from their opening five games. That came in a 1-1 draw with Istanbul Basaksehir and a narrow 1-0 defeat to Real Betis on their last outing proves they can mix it with the more established sides in the Conference League. Hearts need a win to guarantee their progress. But Petrocub, who sit third in the Moldovan Super Liga, are looking to spoil the party for Neil Critchley and his players.
Martin said: “We can say that it is an opponent with a name in Scottish football, a participant of European football, a team with traditions. We come here to play a good match, to gain experience from this competition, and in the end we want to get a good result for our team, to finish this competition well.
“We want to do well, we want to show our level, we want to reach our maximum so that Petrocub is a force. We want to show a good match and we want to be happy with everyone after the match.”
Petrocub stalwart Ion Jordan echoed his manager and said his team mates are prepared for an aggressive 90 minutes against the Premiership‘s bottom side. The 50-times capped Moldova right back is in his sixth season with the club and said: “Hearts have a very dynamic style of play, very aggressive.
“This year was a dream for us, after we won the league and cup, we qualified for this beautiful competition, and we want to finish it well. We hope for a positive result.”