Hearts' Frankie Kent: 'I haven't been a part of anything like this - it's a big thing for me'

Colchester United and Peterborough United are the only clubs on Frankie Kent’s professional CV apart from Hearts. European adventures, therefore, were non-existent until the defender arrived in Edinburgh. Since then, he has played in the Norwegian town of Trondheim, Greek city Thessaloniki, Plzen in Czechia and Sumqayit in Azerbiajan.

It is fair to say Thursday’s experience against Dinamo Minsk topped the lot, even without fans inside the Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium. Yan Dhanda’s 94th-minute header gave Hearts and interim manager Liam Fox a 2-1 victory. It also granted Kent his first taste of winning away from home in Europe. Such euphoria was a major reason he chose to move to Tynecastle Park in summer 2023.

“Obviously, I haven't been a part of anything like this. It's a big thing for me,” said Kent. “Obviously, Craigie [Gordon] has been a part of Champions League and he said the same thing. He was like: ‘Unreal stuff, can't get any better.’ We were away from home and we just take it forward. You need to build on it now.

READ MORE: Kye Rowles comments on Hearts players arguing with each other

“I've loved it and just tried to take in the experience because I don't know when I'm going to get it again. That's the whole reason. Not the whole reason, but the main reason I came up here is to try and experience that and come to cities like Baku. I never thought I'd come here to play a football game. So yeah, just very happy with how it's gone and just going to enjoy it.

“I think obviously the start of the season that we've had has been testing, it's been hard. I think the main thing is just relief. The longer and longer it went without a win, the more pressure and everything. Obviously there's always pressure but the main thing is just relief because we do work so hard to try and make that happen. I think you saw on Thursday that maybe our luck is turning: The own goal, the little deflection when Granty's gone through and a good bit of quality from everyone involved in the winning goal. But yeah, it's just nice relief, that’s the main thing I think.”

Hearts players enjoyed their moment on the banks of the Caspian Sea. “I think so. I think it's hard not to,” admitted Kent. “Obviously for me, first real win in Europe in terms of league stage and stuff. So, really good for me. I loved it. Hard test, tough game. We probably weren't at our best. I think we showed good moments in the game in terms of in possession, out of possession. I think you've seen what we're trying to do under Foxy but we're happy that we've won.”

Fans were not permitted as UEFA ordered this game take place behind closed doors in neutral Azerbaijan. They will not let Belarusian clubs play home matches in their own country after Belarus helped Russia invade Ukraine. Kent explained that the eerie atmosphere highlighted some challenging comments among the Hearts players.

“In some ways it's easier because obviously the information and everything, and you could probably hear us, we were getting on to each other, demanding a lot out of each other,” he said. “We do that in this group. Me, anyone. And that's it. We're not scared to do it, we're not scared to upset each other, we can say it. We just said that probably helped in terms of keeping us energetic and fired up and wanting to do it. We know what we needed to do and that was to try our hardest to win the game.”

Hearts did not follow Azerbaijan time and instead stuck to the UK clock, which is three hours behind local time. “There was a supper at 2am on Wednesday night, but no one turned up. I think it was toast and all that,” said Kent. “But I don't think anyone turned up because obviously it was 11 o'clock back home. But no, it was alright. It was nice, good weather and everything. It's a nice city. We got to go on a couple of walks and this, that and the other. It was obviously topped off with a win.”

Player remained on the pitch to celebrate at full-time, with Tynecastle directors and corporate guests acclaiming the victory. “Yeah, I don't know why we did that. I don't know what happened there,” admitted Kent. “I think it was probably because obviously the group above us were probably there and whatever.

“It's mad, it obviously just sort of brought me back to what the COVID season was like. But yeah, I did enjoy it. I think we've got to enjoy these moments, obviously being through the run that we've been on and the hard time that we've been on since the start of the season. We've got to enjoy it and now obviously full focus on Sunday against Aberdeen.”

The win over Dinamo was Hearts’ first in 11 attempts this season. Kent stressed that the players were not feeling under undue pressure. “No, I don't think so. I think it's probably just human nature. You just start to think: ‘What is going on?’. You try and put your finger on what the problem was and everyone's working so hard. That's the thing. That's been from the start of the season until now. There has not been a point where we haven't been working hard in training and trying to do everything right. I'm hoping, obviously it's easy for me to say it now, but maybe luck's turning our way a little bit.

“It all started from chances going in last Saturday [against Ross County] and we wanted to build on that because we kept on going to the end. We know it wasn't the right result but the result we wanted. We built on that. We didn't give in and I think we just showed it again on Thursday night. It wasn't the best performance in the world. We showed good bits and things we needed to improve on, but we just kept on going and kept on going. Now, hopefully, our luck will turn and we'll have a good game on Sunday.”