Vinny Perth believes his Dundalk players will cope with conditions in Baku - having acclimatised in Spain.
Temperatures in Azerbaijan are in the mid 30s by day and will drop into the 20s by kick-off tomorrow.
But Perth reckons the team’s warm weather training camp in Spain during the mini summer break will stand to them.
While Perth is the Lilywhites rookie boss this season, he was a central figure at the club as Stephen Kenny’s assistant.
“This will be my 26th European game with this club,” he said. “We’ve been to different time zones and we’re well used to it.
“When we trained in Spain a month ago, it was for nights like these.
“Brian Gartland was marking Pat Hoban in Spain, he was running off him in the heat when it was 25 or 26 degrees.
“On the training pitch, I was screaming at them ‘This is Europe, this is getting ready for Europe’.
“And it gets easier for them because it’s in their legs and it’s in their locker.”
Perth continued: “It’s obviously going to be a difficult tie against difficult opposition but I don’t think the preparation changes too much.
“We’ll stick close enough to Irish time. The lads would usually eat at 9 in the morning but will probably eat closer to 11, that’s the only slight difference.”
Midfielder Robbie Benson did not travel having come off in the first leg with bruised ribs.
First team coach John Gill said: "Had it been a shorter flight we might have brought him as he's a great lad.
"He gives the group confidence but there's no point flying him 5,000 miles just to watch things."
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