Malisheva in slippery claim over Hibs' Kosovan struggles as boss shares encounters with 'angry' away fans
Hibs have it all to do in the second leg of their Conference League clash.
Hibs slipped up by failing to prepare for the treacherous surface where they fell to an embarrassing European defeat, according to the boss of their UEFA Conference League rivals.
Malisheva gaffer Thomas Brdaric has explained how his team’s late second goal in last week’s shock victory can prove decisive when the Kosovans take on David Gray’s men at Easter Road on Thursday night. The Scottish Premiership side suffered one of the worst European results in club history as they lost 2-0 to Malisheva, a young club who had never been as far as the second qualifying round before, at the Fadil Vokrri Stadium in Pristina.
The surface at Kosovo’s national stadium, which was watered just before kick-off, appeared to be a problem for Hibs players who continually lost their footing. FC Malisheva – based about half an hour from the Kosovan capital, but with a ground that doesn’t meet UEFA standards - hadn’t played on the surface themselves, with their first qualifying round tie staged at a smaller venue in the city. Brdaric put his team through a full training session at the stadium on Wednesday, while the Hibs squad just had a quick walk on the surface after arriving in Kosovo. And former German international Brdaric insisted: “The pitch wasn’t slippery because it was watered.
Why did Hibs struggle vs Malisheva?
“It’s a hybrid pitch so when you don’t have the right shoes on, you slip around on it all the time. We knew before that we would have to have the right footwear and be careful about what movements you make. It wasn’t the water, it’s just what that pitch is like. On Saturday I watched the women’s Champions League in the same stadium, they didn’t water beforehand and still players were slipping often.”
Hibs looked to be hanging on for a damaging – but not fatal, in the context of the tie – 1-0 loss heading into the final moments of last week’s afternoon kick-off. But they conceded a second goal in the final minute of regulation time, prompting furious scenes among away fans who had made the long and complicated journey to Kosovo. Brdaric believes going into the game 2-0 up adds an extra element to a tough challenge for his European newbies. And he’s backed his team to carry a threat to the home side in Edinburgh. The former Bayer Leverkusen forward revealed: “I met some Hibs fans later in the city (on Thursday) and they were really suffering. They were angry about the performance and were angry about the players.
“But they forget we are also professionals, our players play football every day and are working hard, focusing on all the essential things. I have a lot of respect for Hibs, their coaches and their players because I know how tough it is to play against small clubs in Europe. Teams can just grow up in one game against you and we did that in the first game. But we have to grow up further in the second game. Doing it in one game isn’t good enough.
Malisheva plan vs Hibs at Easter Road
“What we have to do is keep our feet on the ground and make sure we go into this game with the right mentality. It’s far from done, it’s only half-way through and we know Hibs will come back to face us in another way. We know we can score but we will have to defend well, do the basic things well because that is the foundation of football. That is our objective, if we defend well then I believe we can score a goal. That is why getting the second goal last week was so important because if we can score at Easter Road then it becomes a very interesting match. I always believe we are dangerous.”
Insisting he expects the Hibs support to rally behind their team despite last week’s ugly scenes, Brdaric added: “We will have to face the atmosphere with their fans. It’s going to be tough because they will make a big atmosphere. But I believe we have the ability to pass this round. In football at this level, games are usually always tight matches and it comes down to making the right decisions. Last week we did a great job against the ball, we created chances and we deserved the bits of luck we got in the game. Twice we finished well so we were very happy with the victory.
“The game was very much as we expected, we did a lot of analysis on Hibs, watching their games from last season and in pre-season. We thought we knew how they would play and what to expect from them. Our club is just a young club but it is growing, our club has been in Europe for three seasons so it’s building up experience of this. We want to take this opportunity now. We will face Hibs in the maximum professional way. “It’s only half-time in the game so we need to bring the same professionalism, the attitude and the mindset to the game in Edinburgh. We have to do everything we did in Pristina and more when we come to Scotland.”