Dinamo Minsk star Alyaksandr Sachywka has warned Hearts that playing in front of an empty stadium suits them because they are used to it.

Heart of Midlothian kick off their Europa Conference League campaign this week with a tricky and long trip to the middle of Azerbaijan to play the Belarusian side in Sumgait.

And while Hearts had to rely on a last gasp leveller to avoid yet another defeat against Ross County in the league, Dinamo Minsk were cruising to their their fourth 2-0 win in their last five games against Isloch to go top of their league.

And Belarus international defender Sachywka is relishing the game against Hearts even though it will be played behind closed doors.

He said: "Of course if the game had been played at our stadium it would have been better for us because we would have had the support of our passionate fans. But to be honest we are used to playing without fans.

"This has been going on for several years now. It is what it is.


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"Of course, we want our fans to be there, but unfortunately, it is not possible yet.

"We can play without pressure because the club's aim was to play in the group stages in Europe and we have already secured that. So there is no pressure for us.

"We will now fully focus on Hearts and their strengths and weaknesses."

And Dinamo boss Vadim Skripchenko was pleased with his side's build-up to the game.

He said: "We scored a couple of good goals and there were no injuries. This is encouraging before the match against Hearts in the Conference League."