Hibs Ladies eye glamour tie but coach Grant Scott happy to go as far as possible in Champions League

Hibs Ladies coach Grant Scott has revealed his team are keen on a glamour tie in the last 32 of the Uefa Women's Champions League - but he'll be happy with progression.
Hibs Ladies celebrate reaching the last 32 of the Champions League (Pic: @HibsLadies/Twitter)Hibs Ladies celebrate reaching the last 32 of the Champions League (Pic: @HibsLadies/Twitter)
Hibs Ladies celebrate reaching the last 32 of the Champions League (Pic: @HibsLadies/Twitter)

Hibs defeated Pomurje 2-1 in Beltinci in their final group game, giving them three wins from three and securing passage to the knock-out stages of the competition, joining fellow Scottish Women's Premier League side Glasgow City, who received a bye.

Speaking to the BBC Sportsound programme, Scott admitted it had been hard to carry out extensive research on their three opponents, branding them "unknown quantities".

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He added: "With Cardiff Met being a British side, we could find out bits and pieces about them, we watched footage of them but the two foreign sides - quite frankly, we weren't sure if the Tbilisi team existed at one point, so it was really tough. We used our resources, everyone that we know in the game but we came up with nothing so it was a bit of a shot in the dark."

While Hibs haven't been firing on all cylinders on the domestic front, and have lost a handful of players to English sides, Scott believes progression in the Champions League can be a shot in the arm for his players.

• READ MORE - Pomurje 1 Hibs 2: Match report"We've got a reliable group; a really talented squad. We've lost a few down south to professional teams but we've got a good habit of bringing in young players and developing them, and growing our own players through our academy," he explained.

"[Domestically] we've let ourselves down and the old adage of having a young team and inconsistency - I think we've had that. We're able to compete but we've had a few poor performances. We've competed [inn games] for long spells, it's just naivety letting us down. We're a work in progress, but it's going well."

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Asked by Richard Gordon about the next stage for the team, Scott conceded that the team's hopes didn't match his own.

"The players want a glamour tie and possibly a wee night under the lights at the stadium. I'd would rather get a chance to go further and then get the glamour tie, but we'll take what we get at this point," he said.

"You can only develop and learn from challenging yourself against better opposition and better players, so [whatever happens] we will use that as a positive for the team.

"We've got a batch of players who probably want to push into the national team very, very soon - there are certainly players who I think will be on the radar - and they need exposure to something more than the domestic game - this [Champions League] is the perfect platform for them."

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