Hibs Europa League reaction - David Gray concedes three 'wonder strikes' proved Hibs undoing
The Hibs boss has been reacting to his side’s heart-breaking Europa League exit
David Gray concedes it has took three “wonder-strikes” from FC Midtjylland to seal Hibs’ Europa League exit - but admits he is extremely proud of his players.
The capital club suffered late heartache in front of a bumper crowd of 19,356 at Easter Road tonight as Junior Brumado’s sensational overhead kick in extra-time knocked them out of Europe’s second-tier competition.
The second round qualifying tie was finely poised at 1-1 after the first leg in Denmark last week, and it took until four minutes into extra-time in the capital before the visitors made the breakthrough. Dario Osorio’s sumptuous strike from distance broke the deadlock before Rocky Bushiri hit back minutes later.
However, Brumado would have the final say on a night of thrilling drama to ensure Hibs now drop into the UEFA Conference League where they will face Serbian giants Partizan Belgrade next week.
“Mixed emotions,” Gray admitted. “I say it all the time, I hate losing so I’ll never accept losing games of football. But I can’t ask the players for any more. They gave me absolutely everything.
“I think when you add the manner of the goal we lose right at the end, it’s taken three spectacular efforts to beat us over the tie against a top team. I’m proud of the players, proud of the effort I got from every single one of them. Ultimately, it’s a bit raw at the minute.”
On Midtjylland’s winning goal, Gray commented: “You’ll always look at it and say ‘can you do a bit better to stop the shot’. I’ve only seen it live, I’ve not watched it back. But at the time, I think it’s as good a strike as I’ve seen at Easter Road, to be honest.
“He hits it really, really well, through bodies. We’ll obviously analyse everything and look at every opportunity we gave up in the game, but it has took a strike from 40-yards tonight, and an overhead kick from a dead ball from 30-yards in the first leg.
“So the players can take a lot of pride from the way they defended. The concentration needed to be there when you play against a team at this level. That’s what is required. As I said, I can’t fault the effort and what they’ve given me over the course of 210 minutes.”
Gray voices delight at squad improvement from first leg
Gray was delighted with his how players performed, admitting they were far braver in possession compared to last week’s first leg in Herning.
“You need to try and improve all the time” said Gray. “Even when you look at how the two ties have went, I think we’ve improved tonight in terms of having more control in the game in certain areas.
“Some passages of play we were a bit braver on the ball. Still not at our absolute best, we can still improve in certain situations. But the way we played tonight was a lot braver, which we had to be because we weren’t going to constantly sit in.
“But when you think back to what their biggest threat is, set-pieces are huge for them. They’re a big, strong, powerful side and we defended them incredibly well. We reduced them to shots form distance and it’s taken three wonder strikes to beat us.
“You’ll always look at that, learn from it. But that’s also great for the players to test themselves. I say it all the time, when you test yourself against elite level opposition - they were a Champions League team last season for a reason. They’ve got some top, top players and it’s great for our players to feel that.”
Midtjylland boss explains late change of goalkeeper
Midtjylland boss Thomas Thomasberg felt his side marginally deserved to progress over two legs, but conceded he was preparing in anticipation of spot kicks to decide the tie.
“Yeah (I felt the better team won), but I give credit to Hibs,” he said. “We had to work really hard in both games. I think we were the best team, but credit to them and the effort they put in.
“We struggled in both games but we’re through to the next round and that was the aim. We didn’t think we would walk through to the next round, Hibs was a difficult opponent but of course we are happy it ended like it did.”
Thomasberg opted to change his goalkeeper in the closing stages of injury-time with penalties looming. Explaining his decision to replace No.1 Jonas Lossl with understudy Elias Olafsson, he admitted: “Yes, of course (we were preparing for pens).
“We knew if we got to penalties Elias is the best for this, I talked to them about it before and they knew this could happen. I didn’t think we would wait so long for the winning goal.”