Hibs 3 Rot-Weiss Essen 2
Our 150th anniversary match ended with us edging out Rot-Weiss Essen by the odd goal in five, following a memorable encounter at Easter Road.
We deservedly led 2-0 at the break following a dominant first half showing thanks to goals from Jamie McGrath and Junior Hoilett.
However, the visitors turned the tables after the break thanks to a quick-fire brace from substitute Dominik Martinovic.
Who else but Martin Boyle popped with the match winning goal late on as both sides enjoyed the first contest between these teams in Edinburgh since our famous 1955 European Cup match.
We had to withstand late pressure to make sure of the win with new signing Rachael Sallinger saving a Torben Musel in the closing minutes.
David Gray handed new signings Sallinger, Josh Mulligan and McGrath their first starts in the green and white at Easter Road.
Ahead of kick-off Club legend, Pat Stanton, commemorated the renaming of East Stand in his honour by delivering the match ball to a standing ovation from all inside the ground.
The visitors were backed by a huge, raucous support that packed out the lower tier of the South Stand in the Leith sunshine.
There was a familiar face in the middle of the park with former Hibs goalkeeper, Sean Murdoch, officiating the game.
The match burst into life immediately as we broke down the visitors resolve inside 70 seconds. Lewis Miller drove down the right flank before picking out McGrath with his cut back, the Irishman saw his initial shot saved by Jakob Golz however he was alert enough to turn home the rebound from close range.
We had made a bright start to the match and fashioned another opportunity soon after when Kieron Bowie played a neat one-two with Mulligan on the edge of the Essen box before unfortunately slicing his eventual shot wide.
The tenacity of Hoilett helped carve out our next chance as the winger won possession deep in the Essen halve before rolling the ball into the path of Chris Cadden, who was denied by Golz at his near post.
We kept the ball alive, and worked it back to Hoilett on the edge of the penalty box; the Canadian took one touch to control it, before curling an exquisite finish into the top right corner of Golz net to double our lead.
On 23 minutes a Nicky Cadden corner kick found Hoilett at the back post, his shot was blocked and from the rebound Rocky was denied by a stunning point-blank save from Golz.
We were enjoying a lot of attacking momentum, particularly down our right, however the visitors were a threat on the counterattack with Ramien Safi thwarted twice by last-ditch tackles from Chris Cadden and Jack Iredale.
They had their first effort on goal after 27 minutes when a cross floated into the back post found Ahmet Arslan arriving late however his first-time volley finished high and wide of goal.
Despite promising forays forward from both sides there would be no further opportunities for either side during the remainder of the first half.
In fact, both sides would make enforced changes due to injury before the interval with Miller hobbling off to be replaced by Warren O’Hora whilst Essen’s Lucas Brumme was swapped out with Torben Musel.
The visitors replaced their entire starting XI during the break whilst we only opted to replace goal scorer Hoilett with Elie Youan for the second half.
Those Essen changes paid immediate dividends as the German side roared back into the match.
Only 40 seconds of the second half had been played when Martinovic swept home Franci Bouebari’s low cross from the left to reduce arrears.
Five minutes later and it was 2-2. Essen countered down the left with Martinovic standing up Rocky before smashing a wonderful low shot past Sallinger from 25 yards.
Essen threatened to completely turn the match on its head when Klaus Gjasula shot high over Sallinger’s crossbar from just 12 yards out following Kaito Mizuta’s cutback.
On 60 minutes we almost restored our lead when Mulligan played a neat one-two with McGrath before finding Bowie, who watched on disbelief as his shot on the turn beat Felix Wienand only to strike the base of the post and bounce clear.
We made five changes going into the final half-hour, with Boyle, Josh Campbell, Alasana Manneh, Jacob MacIntyre and Marvin Ekpiteta all coming on.
Essen continued to have the best of the opportunities with Mizuta’s dipping shot from distance dropping just over Sallinger’s crossbar.
After a poor start to the second period, the changes we made helped us reestablish ourselves in the match and we went close when Chris Cadden had an effort blocked before only a fine save from Wienand denied brother, Nicky, on the rebound.
Seconds later we did score as Boyle cut inside from the right before slamming a left foot shot past Wienand from 18 yards.
Boyle had a great chance to score his second soon after when a magnificent pick out from Nicky Cadden sent him clear, only for his early shot to rise just over the crossbar.
Essen refused to give in and in the closing moments Martinovic almost notched his hat-trick with a powerful rising effort that flashed just over our crossbar.
With three minutes remaining Ekpiteta fouled Torben Musel and the visitors were awarded a late penalty kick.
Musel took the kick himself only for Sallinger to brilliantly save down to his right, pushing the ball away with a strong right hand.
In the dying embers tempers flared with Gjasila and O’Hora picking up yellow cards before the final whistle brought proceedings to an end.
Hibernian: Sallinger, Miller (O’Hora 32’), Levitt (Megwa 71’), Bowie (Boyle 61’), C. Cadden (Gillie 81’), Iredale (Campbell 61’), McGrath, N. Cadden, Mulligan (Manneh 61’), Hoilett (Youan 46’ (MacIntyre 62’)), Rocky (Ekpiteta 61’). Substitutes not used: Smith, Johnson.
Rot-Weiss Essen: Golz (Wienand 46’), Arslan (Shultz 46’), Safi (Gjasula 46’), Obuz (Martinovic 46’), Brumme (Musel 37’), Celebi (Kaiser 46’), Alonso (Bouebari 46’), Moustier (Mizuta 46’), Bazzoli (Owusu 46’), Kraulich (Schulte-Kellinghaus 46’), Hofmann (Swajkowski 46’). Substitutes all used.
Referee: Sean Murdoch.
Attendance: 12,622.