Hibs fall-out from Euro shocker: unforgivable moment, pressure on new signing and baying fans
How much damage can one game do? We’ll find out in the return leg in Edinburgh
It’s hardly a novel experience, in the context of Scottish football. Stick around long enough and you can become desensitised to even the most humiliating of on-field embarrassments in far-flung corners of the UEFA empire.
But there are elements of Thursday’s godawful defeat for Hibs that should be cause for serious concern. Not merely among the supporters sufficiently moved to voice their displeasure, in choice language, during a post-match confrontation that would have been uncomfortable for every member of the official travelling party.
The main takeaways from a 2-0 defeat to Malisheva, a team who had spent the eve of this contest openly declaring that any sort of home win would be the greatest achievement in club history? If you’ve got the stomach for it, let’s dive in.
Hibs may pay for naïve game management
The second goal is a killer, right? An absolute disaster of a concession that changes the entire nature of the tie.
Had David Gray’s men kept the deficit to a single goal, they would have left Pristina disappointed, obviously. But it could have been written off as one of those things – a blip in their first competitive game of the season, with no major harm sustained.
To then be caught, in the final minute of regulation time, in a three-on-three break is just criminal. Unforgivable. Failing to cope with that man-for-man situation was … well, it almost denies analysis.
The upshot is they’ve now got to win the second leg by three clear goals. Not impossible. But this failure to manage the contest makes life a damned sight harder than it needed to be for the Easter Road outfit.
The new No. 9 needs a quick goal
Nathan Lowe scored twice on his debut at the weekend. And, while it was only a friendly, Brondby are no mugs.
When the pressure was on here, though, he choked on two chances. Both missed at the near post. Neither absolute sitters – but the sort of opportunities that need to be put away, if you’re to compete in even the early stages of the UEFA Conference League.
The on-loan Stoke City striker, handed the No.9 jersey and confident enough to take on the burden of responsibility that comes with it, will hope for an early chance to make amends at Easter Road. Even this early in his Hibs career, he’s got some ground to make up with fans.
Remember Inter Club …
Hibs haven’t been in exactly this situation before. But they’ve been close.
Right back at the start of season 2023-24, they travelled to Andorra to face Inter Club D’Escaldes. And promptly lost 2-1 to the part-timers.
Cue debates over whether this was the worst result since Celtic losing to Lincoln Red Imps, as pundits trawled through the Big Book of Scottish Football Embarrassment in search of comparisons. It was certainly a stinker.
Come the return leg in Edinburgh, of course, Hibs battered Inter 6-1. Martin Boyle – one of a couple of first-team players still standing from that night – scored twice in the opening 21 minutes.
It may take something like that for Gray’s men to get the job next week. Malisheva are a more accomplished team than Inter, however. A lot will depend on how they stand up to the occasion.
Do the fans still love this team?
This is where it gets tricky. Among the couple of hundred Hibs supporters who travelled to Kosovo, there won’t be a lot of enthusiasm for the team. Quite the opposite.
Had there not been a fence separating the angriest of the angry mob from the targets of their ire here yesterday, might things have become uglier still? Or was the presence of a huge metal barrier merely emboldening the loudest to shout and roar?
One or two players didn’t look best pleased to have everything from their ability to their character question. But most understood the assignment; stand there and take the stick, only offering the odd polite nod or word of apology in response.
Those players will need a lot of support next week. Hibs will have a better chance if Easter Road is busy and bouncing.
But it’s a big ask, demanding that diehards turn out to support the team after such a disappointing showing. It’ll be interesting to see how many turn up – and how they react to the situation.