Heart of Midlothian will head to Czechia later this month if Viktoria Plzen can complete the job in the second-leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie against Kryvbas.

The Czechs came from a goal down at half-time to win 2-1 in Slovakia against the Ukrainians. They will be expected to ensure they progress to the play-off round where Hearts wait in store for them.

Playing their home leg in Kosice, near the Ukrainian border, the recently-formed Kryvbas showed themselves more than capable against their more illustrious counterparts in the first-half.

They took the lead early on through Prince Adu. The team's best player Ivan Dibango was released excellently down the left having made a great run before playing the ball across for his team-mate to steer into the net.

Marian Tvrdon was by far the busiest goalkeeper in the first-half. He denied centre-back Timur Stetskov after a neat one-two and had to make a smart stop from Dibango who had once again broken free down the Plzen right.

Kryvbas would come to regret not building on their lead. Jiri Panos took advantage of some slack play in the midfield. The 16-year-old strode forward with the ball before unleashing a brilliant effort into the top corner.

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Lukas Cerv almost doubled the lead before great play from Pavel Sulc, the team's top scorer last season, made space in the box before laying the ball off for half-time substitute Daniel Vasulin to fire into the top of the net.

The home side had efforts of their own, the best falling to Daniel Sosah but he couldn't beat Tvrdon.

The teams will now meet in Plzen next Thursday.

Hearts will play the away leg first on August 22 before the return leg at Tynecastle Park on August 29.