Heart of Midlothian will go in search of their first win of the season this evening in less than familiar surroundings. 

It is the first fixture of the newly formatted Conference League and it has taken them to the western banks of the Caspian Sea where they will play Dinamo Minsk in an empty Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium.

Liam Fox and Craig Gordon spoke to the media on Wednesday night at the stadium in Sumqayit, an hour or so north of Baku before Andrew McKinlay provided a thorough update of the manager search in the centre of Azerbaijan's capital on Thursday morning.

Focus now switches to the clash with Minsk and Fox's second game in interim charge.

Hearts come into the game following the 1-1 draw with Ross County on Saturday. While the final result was far from ideal even if Lawrence Shankland rescued a point with a stoppage-time goal, it is hard to see wholesale changes to the starting XI.

(Image: BeFunky) The back four and goalkeeper could remain in place but with James Penrice on the bench at the weekend the expectation would be for him to come back in at left-back, especially considering he has been one of the better and more consistent performers.

With the game being a European fixture, Kye Rowles would give the centre of defence a better balance with his pace alongside Frankie Kent. 

Adam Forrester should have another opportunity to impress at right-back with Gerald Taylor out injured.

Beni Baningime should be one of the first names on the team sheet following his performance against County. Cammy Devlin adds energy alongside him and he has previous for impressing on the European stage. The key question is whether Fox goes with a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. 

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The latter would allow for the inclusion of Yan Dhanda who has started just three games since joining in the summer. He would provide more creativity higher up the pitch.

Shankland will lead the line and it wouldn't be a surprise to see Kenneth Vargas drop to the bench. The Costa Rican has played in all but one of the games this season yet he has been off the boil in recent weeks, not having much of an impact as he continues to search for his first goal of the season.

That could see the captain flanked by Alan Forrest and Barrie McKay. Neither have reached the level of their best in maroon this campaign but the same can be said of many of the squad, especially those in the final third.