Hibs head coach David Gray is confident that his players have the quality to overturn a two-goal deficit against KF Malisheva tomorrow night.
Hibs have previous European fightbacks in which we’ve been able to turn a first-leg defeat around, including against Inter Club d’Escaldes of Andorra almost three years ago to the day, when they secured a 6-1 victory at Easter Road after a 2-1 defeat at Andorra la Vella Municipal Stadium, and a similar task lies in wait on Thursday evening.
Now, backed by strong home support, Gray believes his side can put things right as they seek to avenge the 2-0 defeat at Fadil Vokrri Stadium last week.
But he is under no illusions of the challenge against Thomas Brdarić’s side, who showcased their offensive threat.
Speaking to the media in his pre-match press conference at HTC, Gray said: “I think I was very vocal after the game in terms of the level of performance.
“I don’t think I need to go over that again. The players certainly don’t need to hear it from me again, and what I’ve been fully focused on is that reaction, which I certainly got in training this week.
“Now, that’s one thing, doing it in training, and I think they have been really bright in training this week.
“I do believe all the players will benefit from that 90 minutes that they got, just because it’s so early in the season as well.
“It is half-time in the tie, and that’s the only benefit that came out of the first game, was that it’s not finished.
“We can still turn this around. I firmly believe we can and I’m certainly getting that from the players as well.
“I think it shows you that you need to play at a level to make sure you get the right result in games.
“We were below the level required over there, absolutely, and we need to be far better in every area to make sure we’ve got the best opportunity to turn this around.
“Some of the best European nights I’ve experienced as a coach and a player are at home at Easter Road, with the fans right behind you, driving us on right from the first minute, which is what we’re going to need to make sure that our players can thrive with that as well.
“It’s up to everybody to make sure we do what we can tomorrow night.
“I said that straight after the game, I wasn’t going to give anyone an excuse – certainly not myself, certainly not the players.
“I think that is a responsibility and an expectation every time you pull on the Hibs jersey, and it’s very rare that so many players are off it at the same time.
“I think you’ve seen that (how dangerous KF Malisheva are), and this isn’t the first round. They’ve already played a round already to get to this stage.
“They were everything I spoke about before the game, going into the first leg – a very aggressive side, very dangerous on transition – and you look at the two goals we conceded, in which we’re lost the ball in dangerous areas.
“So that will be another huge threat again, and we’ve made the players well aware of that, as it’s us chasing the game with us being two goals down, and that makes you vulnerable to that transition.
“We will make sure we start on the front foot and play forward with a bit of intensity, as that was severely lacking in the first leg, and that is something that we’ve been very hard on this week.
“The players are human beings. What they are is they’re determined to try and turn this around and the pride will kick in.”
