Hibernian

We asked for your views on the 3-3 draw at Legia Warsaw that consigned Hibs to a Conference League exit 5-4 on aggregate.

Here's what some of you said:

Matt: That's six European games against top opposition where Hibs have matched all three teams toe-to-toe, all while largely getting the business done in the league and cup in-between. We will say it quietly, but third is the least of our ambitions with the team we have and depth. Finally, remember the name - Miguel Chaiwa.

Ringo: Three minutes away from one of Hibs' best-ever results, we have a knack of never seeing a game out, can't fault the players for effort. Hibs just never get that luck to see it out. This could be a blessing in disguise, now we can concentrate on the league and cups. Hibs will be okay, we have a good team.

Mark: David Gray has done well for Hibs, but not for the first time, his substitutions have cost us. Taking Martin Boyle off weakened Hibs and boosted them, and replacing him with a nervous youngster who has yet to prove he is good enough ended up costing us the vital late goal which sent us into extra time. Gray needs to stop being so naive or we will keep throwing away games.

Scott: So cruel on Hibs, what a performance, what a game. I am proud of this Hibs team, the players gave everything and we are so unlucky to go out. Gray is building a good Hibs team here and I urge my fellow Hibees to get down to Easter Road on Sunday and get behind the team and get three points against St Mirren because at the moment with this group of players we are in for a great season.

Sandy: Hibs' performance made Scottish representation in Europe something to be extremely proud of. Not a single player left anything on the park. They performed for our badge with honour. The promise is, there's more to come from this squad under Gray this season, and beyond.

Stuart: Regardless of the result, among us Hibs fans we should be proud of that performance. So many positives to take from that game. Gutted to be out but it still feels great to be a Hibee at the moment.

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Former Hibs midfielder Scott Allan on BBC Sportsound

Obviously it's a bit raw but what a performance from the second half onwards. Hibs took the game to Legia and were three minutes from making the league phase.

This is a proper Hibs side. They are building something. They should have been out of sight.

But you've got to credit David Gray and his team – they've shown they can compete. They had 24 attempts away to Legia – that tells you how forceful they were. So proud of what these players have given.

They did enough to qualify but just miss out. Gray and his squad will take huge belief from this run against good sides.

Former Hibs midfielder Michael Stewart on BBC Sportsound

It's fine margins, little moments and small mistakes that have cost them. The second-half performance in Warsaw was full of character.

They deserved to get into the league stage and I really feel for them. Their performances in these games have been more than good enough to show they can compete. I would have loved to see them in the league phase and think they would have done really well.

You can only give them huge amounts of credit but that counts for nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Former Hibs striker Tam McManus on X

Sickening. The guys gave absolutely everything on the night and got zero luck. If Martin Boyle's shot goes in tie is over. Had them beat and just couldn't see it out.

Scunnered but proud of the team, was an outstanding performance and also the fans who travelled heard them all night.

Broadcaster Craig Telfer on BBC's Scottish football podcast

Wthout the distraction of European football, Hibs can just concentrate on the domestic league. And at this stage, I don't think it's outlandish to suggest that they could finish in second place.

Hibs are in a good place. Gray has done a great job there and they'll be looking at kicking on and having a really extraordinary campaign domestically.

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter in Warsaw

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Captain Martin Boyle admits the Hibs players "will hurt" after their devastating Conference League play-off defeat, but the forward insists "there are good times coming" for the Edinburgh club.

Boyle scored Hibs' second goal away to Legia Warsaw as they came from a goal down to lead 3-1, moving in front on aggregate.

However, the Polish hosts scored in stoppage-time and again in extra-time to edge a thrilling tie.

Having come so close to the group stage, Boyle said the loss was a "sore one", admitting it was "going to take a little while to get over."

When the dust does settle, the 32-year-old skipper believes there are many positives to take from their European experience, which included beating Partizan Belgrade and pushing Midtjylland all the way in Europa League qualifying.

"We've learned a lot," he told BBC Scotland. "We've learned the togetherness of the squad.

"We've made some really good recruits and the manager, he's been brilliant. You can see the passion. We're fighting together.

"There are good times coming for us."

Now attention turns to Sunday's Premiership meeting with St Mirren as Hibs plan to train in Warsaw on Friday before flying home.

"We have to go again," added Boyle. "The league is most important. Hopefully we can get a good cup run and a good opportunity to win something."

Domestic success would bring another crack at Europe and Boyle says he and his team-mates certainly have the appetite for more.

"Yes, absolutely," he said. "We were so close tonight, minutes away.

"It was much better than playing Aston Villa last time (an 8-0 aggregate loss in 2023), the hurtful moments of that.

"I'm extremely proud of what we've achieved. We showed a great character coming out of the second half. It's nearly the comeback of comebacks, but it wasn't to be.

"If we don't defend the box properly and see out games, we get punished at this level.

"We were nearly there. Hopefully, we can have a great campaign in the league this year and get back to this stage."

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Hibernian head coach David Gray: "That's as good a performance I've seen in Europe from a Hibs team in my lifetime. I'm immensely proud of that. It's hard to take because of that. We need to make sure we come back stronger.

"Obviously I'm very deflated, I'm devastated for the players. I'm really, really proud of that level of performance. The bravery of every player, everyone who came on the pitch, I'm really proud.

"We need to remember this feeling. It's a really sore feeling and I've also just reminded the players of how far this group have come.

"Eight or nine months ago, bottom of the league after 13 or 14 games, to being where we are right now, minutes away from [the Conference League]. A lot to be proud about, even though we never accept losing games of football."

Hibernian's Conference League dream was crushed in heart-breaking fashion as Legia Warsaw denied the Scottish side one their great European results in an incredible six-goal play-off thriller.

Have your say on the match here.

Read the match report here.

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Scotland and Birmingham City striker Lyndon Dykes is a loan target for Hibernian.

But as yet there's been no further movement on a potential deal for the 29-year-old before Monday's transfer deadline.

Dykes, who has been named in Steve Clarke's Scotland squad for next month's opening World Cup qualifiers, has made just one start in five appearances for English Championship newcomers Birmingham this season.

He joined the Blues from Queens Park Rangers last summer but struggled for regular game-time and scored just three times before missing the final three months of the 2024-25 season through injury.

Australia-born Dykes has nine goals in 42 caps for Scotland.

Alfie Robinson
BBC Sport Scotland

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Junior Hoilett has played over 150 games in the English Premier League and won 65 Canada caps.

But the 35-year-old had never sampled European football until this summer's qualifiers with Hibs - and is desperate to prolong the experience by reaching the Conference League proper.

"I used to rush home after school to try and catch some European games when i was younger," said the winger.

"I knew I wouldn't probably get another chance to play European football so that's been huge for me. To have a chance to make the group stages and experience these games is massive."

Although Hibs are 2-1 behind before tonight's play-off second leg away to Legia Warsaw, Hoilett believes they can use the "momentum" from Josh Mulligan's late goal to progress.

"It's a massive boost for our morale and it gives us confidence going over there knowing we can get a result," said.

"We've seen that they're a talented group and we've seen their strengths and where they can hurt us, but we also have to look at what we can do to them.

"We've caused them trouble at our place and we've seen their weaknesses, so we just have to capitalise on that."

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter in Warsaw

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Legia Warsaw head coach Edward Iordanescu wants his side to be "the protagonists" in the second leg of their Conference League play-off with Hibs.

The Polish side lead 2-1 and will be backed by a partisan home crowd on Thursday night, but Iordanescu believes the tie is "still a 50-50 game".

"This level of European competition means none of the teams are here by accident," he told BBC Scotland.

"Hibs will come with belief. Their late goal put them back on track and when you look at their results away from home in Europe they have quality for sure.

"They engage physically and can create problems for us. They have quality players in [Kieron] Bowie and [Martin] Boyle who can change the direction of the game. We have to be clever and focus on that.

"They can also be combative Scots, with good intensity. They can be pragmatic when they have to be."

Legia will be without midfielders Kacper Chodyna and Claude Goncalves and defender Radovan Pankov, while Japan international Ryoya Morishita - "a very important and valuable player" for Iordanescu - was sold to Blackburn Rovers this week.

Jack Herrall
BBC Sport Scotland

David Gray wants his side to draw on the adversity they faced in the first half of last season as they stand on the precipice of reaching the Conference League.

Hibs won just once in their opening 15 Scottish Premiership before staging a remarkable recovery to secure a third-place finish and European football.

Gray's side now find themselves just 90 minutes from reaching the Conference League - if they can overturn a 2-1 deficit away to Legia Warsaw in the play-off second leg on Thursday night.

"I speak a lot about how good the quality in the group is, and the mindset of the players and the togetherness within it," Gray told BBC Scotland.

"I spoke a lot about that last season, the togetherness within the group, and I think a lot of that's because of the adversity we went through at the start, and I include everybody within that. We went through a really tough start.

"Thankfully, everybody did stick together, everybody believed in what we were doing, and I was able to demonstrate why I believed it would turn and show the players that.

"I never felt for one minute that the players weren't buying into what we were doing, and I think we're getting the rewards from that now.

"I think then when you do get adversity within games and we find ourselves in situations which aren't great, we've dealt with that really well. Partizan is a prime example of that, 2-0 up, going into the second leg, getting pegged back to 2-2.

"The mentality of players to then come through that tie shows you that they've got that in abundance, and it's going to be required again because there's a lot of football to be played in this tie. It's an opportunity players need to relish."

Jack Herrall
BBC Sport Scotland

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Martin Boyle says Hibs are "quietly confident" of reaching the Conference League and want to reward the supporters who have backed them across the continent already this campaign.

Hibs are 2-1 down heading into Thursday's second leg of their play-off with Legia Warsaw, but have some momentum on their side thanks to Josh Mulligan's late strike at Easter Road.

Forward Boyle and his team-mates are bidding to make history by becoming the first Hibs team to play in the league or group phase of European competition.

"It's a special occasion for the club. Historically, it could be huge, something that we've not achieved before," Boyle told BBC Scotland.

"So we're quietly confident we can do the job and give back to the club and the supporters who have spent their hard-earned money through the summer.

"We don't want to put to waste the journey we had last season and how well we played. So fingers crossed we can do it.

"It's a lot of money they're forking out, so hopefully we can give back and give them something to cheer about. It would be brilliant.

"As a club and players especially, we appreciate the support, and it isn't taken for granted."

The 32-year-old is the side's acting captain, in the absence of Joe Newell through injury, and he hopes his determination on the park helps him to lead by example.

"I'm not sure how many words of wisdom I can give them," he said.

"But obviously, as a leadership role and as an acting captain since Joe's been injured, there's a huge responsibility on me to carry the team. I try to do that through my performances and not so much vocally.

"There are a lot of experienced boys that we have in this building, and there are a lot of confident young boys that are playing brilliantly at the moment, some don't even need it, they're playing that good at the moment.

"But there will be moments in the game where they make mistakes, it's all about how they react and get through it, and I'm sure they'll be mentally ready for the game."

Matty Fairnie
Fan writer

The Conference League play-off is not beyond us yet.

Having taken the option to postpone last weekend's match with Falkirk in preparation for the Conference League play-off second leg, Hibs go to Poland looking to overhaul the 2-1 deficit against Legia Warsaw.

A VAR offside call to prevent Legia going three up at Easter Road, followed by Josh Mulligan's late strike, mean Hibs still have hope and we will be confident we can give a better account of ourselves than we did in Leith last week.

The players have shown that when they're at their best, they can compete well at this level – on Thursday I felt we had too many players who were good without being great, and we'll need to lift it in Poland if we're to progress.

That said, the key to progressing will be finding our shooting boots. We created enough chances to win the tie on Thursday and should have been a couple of goals to the good before VAR's intervention brought the opener for Legia with a contentious penalty.

If we're to find ourselves in the league stage this season, we'll need to be far more clinical than we've been. Our away record so far has been very good with a credible draw in Denmark followed by a great 2-0 win at Partizan Belgrade.

David Gray regularly talks about the team making history, and they have the chance to do so again in Poland.

Last week also saw the sad passing of Rod Petrie. The former chairman was a hugely significant figure, steering the club through some of its darkest times.

And while his prudent approach wasn't universally popular with the support at the time, there's no denying he left the club in far better shape than he found it, with a wonderful modern stadium and our own training centre, not to mention a League Cup and Scottish Cup win in his time at the club.

My thoughts are with Rod's family and friends.

You can find Matty Fairnie at Longbangers podcast, external

Jack Herrall
BBC Sport Scotland

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Hibs head coach David Gray says it is an "extra bonus" for in-form striker Kieron Bowie to be called up to Steve Clarke's Scotland squad.

The 22-year-old striker gets another chance to impress for the national side in their World Cup qualifying campaign after making his debut as a substitute against Liechtenstein earlier this year.

Bowie has been Gray's go-to striker so far this season, scoring three goals already, and has made himself a fan's favourite.

The young forward joined from Raith Rovers last summer but faced some injury setbacks before making an impact in the side towards the end of last season.

"Obviously, a lot's been made of Kieron and his performances of late," said Gray.

"All he can do is keep doing what he's doing, and I'm delighted for him for the recognition.

"I think he deserves it for what he's done, and I think, as I've said a lot, there's still a lot more to come from Kieron, so this will do his confidence a lot of good.

"And then when it comes to him going away, we wish him all the very best for that, but I think it's an extra bonus at this moment in time for him on a personal level.

"But my job is obviously to try and get the best out of him looking forward to Thursday."

Should Bowie start, he will lead the line away from home against Legia Warsaw well rested after Hibs opted to postpone their fixture at the weekend, giving them a whole week to prepare for the second leg.

Gray believes that break has been of real benefit for the players.

"Coming back in, the players are a bit fresher mentally as well because of the way the game went the other night, the emotions that go through that as well," he added.

"And we've actually had a bit of time on the grass, which is something we've not had for a while as well, so the players that maybe haven't played as many minutes, more time with them on the grass.

"And then the ones who have been playing that have just been playing and recovering and playing and recovering and actually doing a little bit out there as well.

"A bit more of a structured week, with no distractions, all geared up towards another huge game on Thursday night."

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Hibernian head coach David Gray has been speaking to the media before Thursday night's Conference League play-off second leg away to Legia Warsaw.

Here are the key points from his press conference:

• Gray says his players are "fresher mentally" after a weekend off, owing to their domestic game being postponed, and says they have benefitted from "no distractions" between both legs of the tie.

• Hibs have had a "much more structured" week between both legs, something Gray says is important ahead of a "huge game" away in Poland on Thursday.

• Gray says his feeling, and the player's, is that there is "still a lot to play for and still a lot of football to be played" despite being 2-1 down on aggregate.

• On Kieron Bowie being named in the Scotland squad, Gray says he is delighted for the striker and says it will do his confidence "a lot of good" as there is "a lot more to come" from the forward.

• Regardless of the scoreline, Hibs want to start the game well in Poland, but Gray stresses they do not need to go "gung-ho".

• "It is a challenge the players are looking forward to," Gray adds, also saying he relishes the challenges at this level as a coach.

• Hibs will have "no excuses" in the game, Gray adds, saying they will make sure all of their pre-game preparations and travel are done correctly.

• Gray says he is "probably more excited" for this leg as opposed to the first, regardless of being a a goal behind.

• The players have "demonstrated" they belong at the European level, given they have now come through five games in a row and a "tough draw".

• "I think we full deserve to still be in this tie, given the level of our performance in the first leg," Gray adds.