Hibs head coach David Gray wants to create history against KAA Gent as they seek to become the first side in the Club’s history to reach the group stage/league stage of European football.
The players arrived in Ghent on Wednesday in a really good frame of mind, having defeated KF Malisheva and KF Shkëndija to reach the Play-Off Round stage for the second consecutive season.
Speaking to Hibs TV ahead of the away tie Gray said: “I am looking forward to it.
“It’s everything we spoke about on day one of pre-season – to try and create that history.
“I speak about that all the time, to try and get into the group stages of Europe, and we’ve managed to put ourselves in a brilliant position, and we’ve earned the right to have a real go against a good side.
“We’re certainly going into it with a real good feel-good factor around the Club at the moment, and it’s going to be another memorable and special night for everybody involved.
“I think the players that have been involved away from home in Europe already and certainly the ones that were involved last season can take a bit of confidence from the performances but also know what to expect a little bit.
“It is going to take a complete performance, and it’s going to take two huge performances to get into the next round and into the group stage, but that’s what you’d expect at this stage of the competition.
“But as I’ve already said to the players, it’s well within us if we can play at our levels, and we know we’re up against a real good side.
“I think they (KAA Gent) have got a bit of everything.
“They’re a very big side in terms of the size of the club, the level they play at and how successful they’ve been in terms of the Belgian Pro League, which they’ve been at the top end for a while now and competing in Europe pretty regularly, so the squad itself has got a lot of threats as you’d imagine with a real blend of youth and experience.
“They’ve got quick players that can really hurt you on transition, but they have got a real variety of ways they can play, which I’ve already seen this season against the different opposition they’ve played, so we expect a real tough test.
“They’ve earned the right to come and play here, and we certainly want to be showing a really good account of ourselves, and the players should go into the game full of confidence.
“We have trained this morning, and the full group came through that apart from Rocky Bushiri, who is a long-term injury, so we’d expect everybody else has come through that which puts us in a real positive place.
“When you consider the amount of fixtures we’ve played in such a quick turnaround – to have everybody available is only going to be a huge positive, and everybody feels they’re contributing, which is also a good thing.
“I think the fact that the allocation has sold out is a credit to the supporters that managed to get themselves over here, as they’ve all earned the right to be on this stage now, and they need to come and enjoy it.
“They need to be right behind the team, which they certainly will be, and it’ll certainly sound like more than a thousand supporters that’s in here tomorrow.
“They’re special moments to be involved in, they’re brilliant nights to be involved in, and that’s everybody, because everybody’s on this journey together, and we want to have as many memorable nights as we can, and we’ve got an opportunity tomorrow night to go and create a wee bit of history.”
