Hibs repair Kosovo damage and avoid embarrassment to keep Conference League hopes alive

Trailing 2-0 in this Conference League second round qualifier after the stinkiest performance in Pristina, the pressure was on head coach David Gray and his players back in Edinburgh. They came up smelling of roses. An early goal set them on their way to a 4-1 victory on the night and 4-3 on aggregate.

Hibs have grand designs of reaching the main phase of a European competition and after coming with three minutes last season of reaching the Conference League, tumbling out at this juncture would have represented major failure.

It is to Gray and his team's credit that they rose to the occasion rather than wilted. They played with a desire and aggression right from the off and showed far greater composure than the first leg. The crowd of 15,182 got right behind the team and by the end all was forgiven.

Almost every sector of the Hibs team malfunction last time out against European lightweights, but they showed a significant uptick in quality when it really mattered. Solid defensively, the midfield pair of Miguel Chaiwa and Josh Mulligan dominated the ball and were far more accurate with their distribution. And up front, all three of Hibs' forwards found the net.

While Owen Elding and Martin Boyle were on target, there was particular pleasure in watching young Nathan Lowe also get on the scoresheet. The Stoke City loanee is only 20 and missed two sitters in Kosovo. He led the line effectively and got his goal.

Gray stuck with the same 3-4-2-1 system and only made two personnel changes when entitled to significantly shuffle his pack. The ramifications for the head coach, who has been questioned by sections of the fanbase during 2026, would have been stark had Hibs lost.

Hibs at it right from the off

You could tell Hibs were in the mood from the get-go. By nine minutes they were ahead when Elding lashed home a cute slide-rule pass from Boyle.

The tie was level on 15 minutes when wing-back Felix Passlack slotted home after Lowe kept the ball alive with a clever flick back from six-yard box and then Boyle crashed a strike off the bar as Malisheva wobbled.

Hibs surged ahead ten minutes from the break when Boyle's cross was headed back across goal from Elding and Lowe had the simple task of converting from close range. Malisheva welcomed the break.

A fourth goal would be the knockout blow and in came on 57 minutes. Boyle slalomed his way across the penalty box and then drilled past Malisheva's helpless keeper Ilir Avdyli.

With an eye on Sunday's Premiership curtain-raiser against Motherwell, Gray removed Boyle and Mulligan. There were chants of "David, David Gray" - a far cry from the vicious abuse dished out to the playing staff a week ago.

There was flutter of hearts when Malisheva sub Omer Bajraktari found the net on 85 minutes, but Malisheva caused no further damage thereafter.

Another team from the Balkans awaits Hibs in the third qualifying round after Macedonian outfit Shkendija took out Bravo in Skopje, with the first leg at Easter Road on Thursday.