Hibs Progress After Dramatic Night At Easter Road

We had to do it the hard way, but in the end, we claimed a big European scalp by eliminating FKPartizan 4-3 on aggregate, following 120 pulsating minutes this evening at a packed Easter Road.

Victory sets up a UEFA Conference League play-off tie with Polish outfit, Legia Warsaw.

The visitors silenced a boisterous home support by scoring after only 16 minutes through Milan Vukotić and then wiped out our first-leg advantage when Jovan Milosevic added a second before half-time.

Big questions were being asked about the boys’ character, and they responded in stunning fashion as Kieron Bowie scored a wonder goal to put us back in front in the tie.

A red card for Nikola Simić reduced the visitors to ten men and we appeared to be heading through to the play-offs until Andrej Kostić struck with the last kick of regulation time.

It was another heavy blow for our boys but our heads never dropped Chris Cadden eventually netted the winning goal in the first-half of extra-time! An incredible and breathless match that will live long in the memory of the Hibees watching here and at home.

After shuffling his pack at the weekend, David Gray returned to a more familiar starting XI this evening with Jamie McGrath’s absence the only omission from the first leg in Serbia.

The Irishman failed a late fitness test and his place in the side was taken by Josh Campbell.

The atmosphere inside Easter Road was electric at kick-off as Martin Boyle led out the boys in front of a packed Stadium.

The game started at an incredible pace and we could have been ahead inside three minutes when Boyle picked out Chris Cadden with a low cross and the wingback shot straight at Marko Milošević from close range. 

On 16 minutes came the moment we had hoped to avoid, as the visitors broke the deadlock.  Vukotic wasn’t closed down and from 30 yards he fired beyond Jordan Smith – who got a hand to it but couldn’t keep it out. A wonderful strike from the midfielder from long range.

It was now a big test of our character as Partizan halved our aggregate advantage.

The Serbian’s were playing quick, fluid football and were pinning us back at times however, we remained a potent threat at the other end and Bowie forced Marko Milošević into a save with a shot from 25 yards.

On 31 minutes we perhaps should have levelled as Dylan Levitt’s deep delivery found Rocky at the back post only for the defender to glance his header wide.

There was no let-up in the pace of the match as Partizan were soon on the attack with Vukotic again shooting from distance; this time he failed to obtain a clean connection and dragged his effort wide.

In the dying embers of the first period, FK Partizan doubled their lead on the night and levelled the tie on aggregate after Jovan Milosevic’s effort managed to squirm under Jordan Smith and into the back of the net.

There was even time for us to survive a penalty scare just before half-time, with the VAR thankfully ruling in our favour. 

There were no changes during the interval as the second half resumed at breakneck pace.

We were guilty tonight of not pressing quickly enough and on 54 minutes Milan Roganović was allowed to run from deep inside his own half unchallenged to the edge of our area on the right before laying off to Ognjen Ugrešić, who dragged a shot wide of goal.

On the hour mark, Easter Road erupted after Bowie smashed an unstoppable half volley into the top right corner of Milosevic’s net. It was an audacious effort from 35 yards, that found the top corner and is a certainty for goal of the season.

It went from bad to worse for the visitors only moments later as Simic was given his marching orders after scything down Bowie and picking up a second yellow card.

The atmosphere was absolutely bouncing insidee Easter Road as we went close to a second goal of the evening when Bowie’s header was flicked on by Rocky and only a stunning point-blank save from Milosevic denied the defender.

All the momentum was now with us as we poured forward in wave after wave of attack and Boyle was next to threaten with an acrobatic effort from Chris Cadden’s cross only to divert his shot wide.

We had the ball in the back of the Partizan net on 75 minutes when Nicky Cadden swept home a Boyle lay-off only for the offside flag to curb any celebrations as the Australian international had stepped forward too soon.

Despite being down to ten men, Partizan ramped up the pressure late on with Smith called into action to produce two terrific saves to deny Jovan Milošević. There were five additional minutes and in those, we suffered last-gasp heartbreak as Andrej Kostićs swept in Yanis Karabelyov’s low cross to level the tie with the final kick.

Ahead of extra-time we replaced Boyle and Jordan Obita with Junior Hoilett and Elie Youan – the former making his 100th appearance for us. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of tired legs out there now and the match intensity dropped significantly.

That was until the 99th minute when Josh Mulligan drove into the Partizan box and angled a shot towards the far bottom corner that Milosevic could only parry and Chris Cadden slammed home the rebound. The noise that greeted Cadden’s effort inside Easter Road was deafening and the defender made the most of it with an exuberant celebration.

Bowie went close to increasing our lead with a shot on the turn that beat Milosevic but flashed just wide of the far post. At the other end, Andrej Kostić got in behind us only for Smith to pull off a terrific save down to his left, to push the ball away at the expense of a corner kick.

From the corner kick, we countered with Youan setting off on a lung-bursting run before laying off to Hoilett, who curled a shot just off target. We were immediately on the attack after the restart with Milosevic producing two big saves from Youan and Nicky Cadden to keep his side in the tie.

There were hearts in mouths when Mario Jurčević put the ball in our net only for the offside flag to allay our fears. The visitors went close again in the dying embers of extra-time when Smith touched an Andrej Kostić shot onto the post with his fingertips before Dušan Jovanović slammed the rebound into the side netting.

A nervy finale ensured but the boys stood tall and held out to claim a famous scalp. It wasn’t pretty at times, but this side has bucket loads of character to keep coming back to get their rewards.

Legia Warsaw in the UEFA Conference Play-Off Round await.