Jack Ross pleased with Hibs display against Raith Rovers ahead of Europa Conference League bow
Jack Ross declared himself satisfied with Hibs 3-1 victory against Raith Rovers on Friday night as the two teams met in Iain Davidson’s testimonial ahead of the Easter Road side’s Europa Conference League bow on Thursday.
First-half goals from Ryan Porteous, Stevie Bradley, and Kevin Nisbet gave the visitors a commanding lead, with Aidan Connolly’s goal shortly before the interval a mere consolation for the Stark’s Park outfit, with no goals after the break.
Despite a goal-laden first 45, the Hibs head coach felt his side showed an improvement in the second period.
“I didn’t think we were great in the first half; I know it sounds a little bit strange but I thought we were a wee bit sloppy in bits of our play but I think what we have within the group is quality and we showed that,” he said afterwards.
"The second half I thought we were much more in control of the game and probably played better but overall it’s been a good pre-season for us. Performance-wise we’ve been good; positive results help as well and it’s been a good week for us in that respect, and we’ve managed to get a lot of minutes in to a lot of different players as well.”
Hibs are hopeful of getting the green light to have just under 10,000 fans at Easter Road for the visit of FC Santa Coloma in the second qualifying round.
"The club has worked hard to put together what we thnk is a good proposal towards having just under 10,000 fans; whether we get that remains to be seen. Hopefully it’s significantly more than two, and hopefully as many as we’re trying to get,” Ross explained.
The Hibs boss is now fully focused on carrying on his side’s pre-season form into Europe.
"We’ll be respectful in terms of our preparation but I think we’ve worked hard on us in pre-season and we’ll try and focus that going into Thursday’s game but it’s an exciting one for us,” he added.
"It’s the first time for me managing in Europe and the first time for a lot of the players as well and we want to be in the competition for as long as possible, so it’s a big match.”