Lee Johnson relieved to see Hibs survive bruising friendly encounter as he reveals 'intel' about Europa

Hibs manager Lee Johnson wagged a disapproving finger at the robust tactics employed by Europa FC during the 2-0 friendly win against the Gibraltar National League outfit – but claimed intel had prepared him for their approach.

Goals from Adam Le Fondre and Josh Campbell secured a routine victory for the Capital club but it was a second-half challenge on French forward Élie Youan that nearly sparked scenes reminiscent of the aftermath at Tynecastle on the last day of the league season. High, late, and not very handsome, the challenge enraged the player and the Hibs bench. Johnson described the game as ‘competitive’, adding: “We got a lot out of that today. It was feisty – when you come over here you have to experience different conditions. The heat was blazing, the pitch was dry, and we were playing against a very motivated side. We’re going to experience situations and scenarios like this in the UEFA Conference League qualifiers and we need to learn to adapt and deal with it. I thought we stayed in control and managed our emotions well. We played some fantastic football in the first half and the playing philosophy came out well.”

Speaking to the Daily Record, he spoke about the challenge on Youan, branding it ‘naughty’ – and explained that Hibs had been given the heads-up by a team who had already faced Europa in a robust encounter.

“I said to the boys before the game they’d get that because it’s a foreign country and a foreign ref,” he explained. “We had a bit of intel from Portsmouth, who played them last week, about what they were like. They’re aggressive but also very quick to roll over and scream, which doesn’t add up. It’s a red card, I think everyone knew that to be honest.

Lee Johnson felt the friendly with Europa was a useful, if slightly bruising, encounter. Picture: Craig Williamson / SNS Group

"They should have taken him off. I’m just pleased we didn’t end up reacting and had anybody getting injured through ill-discipline. It was a bad one, it was naughty. You get that in pre-season, everyone wants to show up. They’re a side who have lads who’d want to move to a club like ours, so they were massively up for it. In that sense it was a good game because they were up for it, it was aggressive and intense.”