'Brilliant away performance' as Hibs leave Belgium with buckets of belief

To the tune of ‘Hibs away, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh uh-huh,’ supporters of the Edinburgh club were bouncing in Belgium on Thursday night.

Not only because chairman Ian Gordon lumped £40,000 behind the bar at the fanzone venue earlier in the day, but because their side took an almighty step towards the £5m-plus bounty, which comes with a place in the Conference League proper, with a goalless draw away to KAA Gent.

David Gray, rightly, hailed “a brilliant away performance” but was quick to add “we’ve achieved nothing yet” – though they will be favourites to do so next week.

What an opportunity they have carved out to create history and become the first Hibs side to reach league phase – or group stage in old money – football in Europe.

In Ghent, they backed up their mature showing away to Shkendija in North Macedonia last week with a comfortable and defensively astute performance to sit in command of this tie.

At Easter Road, in front of what is sure to be a superb support, they know the tie – against a beatable Gent side – is well and truly alive.

Mature Edling ‘not to worry’ about penalty – O’Hora

Pre-match in O’Learys – the pool, darts, bowling and karaoke hall where Hibs fans congregated – a 0-0 result would not have just been accepted, but the offering hand snapped off.

Belgian Pro League outfit Gent are no mugs. Rik de Mil’s athletic side are unbeaten in the early stages of the season and saw off Gothenburg to get here.

In the opening stages, they smothered Hibs, who struggled to come up for air in the hosts’ half. Until Warren O’Hora was clattered into and awarded a penalty. Supporters tucked in to the far left corner of the Planet Group Arena were all giddy and dreaming.

Fewer than two weeks ago, Josh Campbell scored from the spot to silence Ibrox as Hibs went on to defeat Rangers, but it was Owen Elding who grabbed the ball.

Nothing wrong with his effort, searching for the corner, Gent goalkeeper and captain Davy Roef reacted sharply to get down and deny the 20-year-old superbly. He has previous with penalties, Gent required his heroics in the shootout against Cherkasy in the second qualifying round.

Dejected, sure. But down, no chance. Elding, who has been piled with praise since his arrival in Leith remained determined to impact the game.

“Owen came in at half-time, said, ‘sorry about the penalty boys, but we’re on top so let’s keep going’,” captain for the night O’Hora told BBC Scotland post-match. “That’s just the way he is.

“There was a little arm round him, then he shows how much of a man he is already, at such a young age. Credit to him for that.

“He didn’t shy away from things, he just keeps going and waits for the next one.

“He’s got plenty of penalties to take in the rest of his career. I said it to him in the dressing room after the game, ‘I’ve never taken a penalty in my career, I don’t plan on doing it, either.’

“I don’t envy him one bit for that. He’s been brilliant for us so there’s nothing for him to worry about.”

‘Courageous Hibs aware its only half-time’

There were little worries for O’Hora and his fellow centre-backs Jason Kerr and Jordan Obita on a composed night for the Hibs back-line as they cruised to their third clean sheet in a row.

As expected, Gent dominated proceedings without threatening to puncture the Hibs rearguard. In fact, goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger did not have to make any real save of note.

There were near things for the hosts, but their lack of clinical edge ensured a relatively smooth night for O’Hora and co. They would certainly take that again at Easter Road next week, though their pals further up the park would like to be more potent.

“We didn’t carry enough threat but the players showed real courage and we were worth the clean sheet,” head coach Gray said.

“A massive performance and massive result, away from home in Europe against a very good side.

“Physically we were excellent. I don’t like singling players out but the two boys in the middle of the pitch [Josh Mulligan and Miguel Chaiwa] especially. They’ve got a lot of threats but we restricted them to very few chances.

“The discipline, organisation, but also belief in the game plan [was pleasing].

“It is only half-time in the tie, I’m not getting carried away here. We’ve achieved nothing yet.”

While that is true, Gray’s impressive side are more than on track to write their names into the history books and ensure Thursday nights will need to be blocked out in their calendars.

For supporters, their dreams go down to next Thursday’s second leg. Ninety, 120 minutes or even penalties stand in their way from whipping the passports out until Christmas.

‘Hibs away, uh-huh uh-huh’…