Hibs cruised through to the Europa Conference League third qualifying round with a comfortable victory over Santa Coloma.

Head Coach Jack Ross made four changes with Lewis Stevenson, Scott Allan, Joe Newell and Daniel MacKay making way for Josh Doig, Jake Doyle Hayes, Kyle Magennis and Josh Campbell.

Europa Conference League – Hibernian v FC Santa Coloma. 22/7/2021. Hibernian beat FC Santa Coloma 3-0 in the Europa Conference League, Second qualifying round, 1st leg, in a bad tempered game at Easter Road Stadium, Edinburgh, Midlothian, UK. Credit: Ian Jacobs

Before the game Hibs announced that the game would not be shown on the club’s PPV option and would be free on You Tube.

The best laid plans however ended with technical problems from the home club’s feed and fans missed the whole of the first-half.

Kevin Nisbet almost scored in the opening minute but his shot rebounded  off the bar then Paul McGinn’s effort from the edge of the box, forced a smart save from Ramos Prada.

Campbell then played  the ball across the face of goal, but neither Nisbet or Martin Boyle could get on the end of the cross.

The hosts had a spell of possession midway through the second half and Matt Macey produced a superb save to deny Guillaume Lopez from eight yards out.

The Hibs keeper follows up that stop with another smart save from the resulting corner too.

Hibs then got a shock in the 70th minute when McGinn was robbed near the corner flag and the ball was crossed into the box where Guillaume Lopez slammed home to give the part-time Andorrans the lead.

Any fears were soon forgotten though as substitute Jamie Murphy levelled within three minutes following a mix up in the hosts’ defence.

Moments later a powerful strike from Christian Doidge struck the post and the ball fell to Daniel McKay who fired the ball into the empty net.

Hibs will face either Rijeka or Gzira in the next round of qualifying.

image_pdfimage_print
+ posts

John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.