Hibs Urged to Embrace Comeback Spirit Ahead of Crucial Match

Easter Road has seen this film before. A first leg goes wrong, the odds lengthen, and the place turns into a pressure cooker. Sometimes, that’s when Hibernian are at their most dangerous.

Joelle Murray is banking on exactly that.

The Hibs women’s head coach believes the club’s “history of overturning a poor first leg in the second one” can fuel another European recovery on Thursday night, as the men try to claw back a 2-0 deficit against Malisheva in the Conference League second qualifying round.

The task is stark. The Kosovan side arrive in Leith with a two-goal cushion from last week’s opener, and any early anxiety in the stands will only grow if Hibs start slowly. Murray knows the mood of Easter Road as well as anyone.

“I know the Easter Road crowd can be unforgiving at times,” she told the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast, laying out exactly what is required.

For her, this isn’t a night for caution or sideways passing. It’s a night for risk.

She wants “forward passes, penetrating passes and just really playing with that intent from the very first whistle”. No feeling their way into it. No waiting for the tie to come to them. Hibs, she insists, have to go and grab it.

The logic is simple: score early, and the entire dynamic shifts. “With an early goal, that should hopefully see them progress,” Murray said. The deficit is 2-0, but Hibs have “history of overturning a poor first leg in the second one”, and that memory can quickly turn tension into belief if the home side strike first.

That demand for front-foot football comes against a frustrating backdrop. Murray is disappointed that wing-back Nicky Cadden, new signing Callum Wright and midfielder Jamie McGrath are again ruled out through injury. Three players who could change the tempo of a game will be watching rather than driving it.

There is, at least, one shaft of light. Striker Ante Suto could return, and for Murray that potential boost in the final third is exactly what this tie requires.

“Another attacking player is good because that's what we need from the get-go, getting on the front foot, getting an early goal,” she added.

The message is unmistakable. Hibs cannot creep into this second leg. They have to tear into it and trust that a restless, demanding crowd will roar with them if they show the right intent. The club’s past comebacks have lit up this stadium before.

Now Easter Road waits to see if there is one more in this team.