Hibs given Champions League billing as David Gray purrs over performance but fires out warning

Debutant Jamie McGrath opened the scoring for Hibs on seven minutes in Herning, deceiving Midtjylland goalkeeper Jonas Lossl with a free-kick. The hosts put the Scots under pressure but found it hard to break down a well-organised defence until a moment of brilliance for Adam Simsir with his own set-piece on 72 minutes forced a 1-1 draw.

It leaves the tie nicely poised going into next Thursday’s return leg at Easter Road and Gray lauded the effort from his team.

"The challenge was always to keep the tie alive and give us something to build on," said Gray, "With the level of performance, I am delighted for the players. They were outstanding to a man.

"But it is only half the job. We knew that. But I want the players to take confidence from this because we went and matched a Champions League team from last season.

"We had to do a lot of defending tonight, but it's credit to the players, and we also have things to improve on. We know it is going to be a difficult task, but the first part is to make sure the tie is alive and we've done that.

‘We stood up well to quality’

"There were a few things on the break we can improve on, but defensively we were solid, the shape was excellent and they are a top team - their rotations were good and they have a lot of quality in their team and are a real threat at set-pieces.

"But I thought we stood up to that very well as well and it took a fantastic free-kick to get them back to score a goal.

"It will be very similar next week and there's still a lot of football to be played, but we are still in the tie and that's the most important thing,. We are not getting carried away, but under the lights at Easter Road, the tie is well in the balance."

Gray was pleased with McGrath’s vision to spot Lossl out of position but made sure that after a fine collective effort, all of his players received praise. "Excellent. He's got that quality - a quality delivery,” Gray said on McGrath. "But I don't want to single out anyone as it was a team performance."