Neil Lennon believes that tonight’s Europa League qualifier against Molde is the biggest game of his Hibs’ career to date.
After a goalless first leg, Hibs know that a score draw will be enough to guarantee progress to the play-off round against Dinamo Minsk or Zenit St Petersburg, with the Belarus side 4-0 up after the first leg.
The Hibs’ Head Coach also revealed that on-loan goalkeeper Adam Bogdan will be fit to start the game after missing the last two fixtures with an injury.
Lennon said:”For the profile of the club and where we want to take the team, the magnitude of the game is big although we have had big games domestically. Getting promotion was great and we had a great season last year, with a couple of semi-finals along the way.
“I think it’s 50/50. Having home advantage gives them a slight edge.
“We either win the game or a score draw and we are through, so we have to make the most of that platform from the first game. I thought we were very unlucky not to take the lead.
“I would imagine they would try and take the game to us. They have good variation in their play and they are scoring goals. They got five at the weekend against the team who are top of the league so that will give them a confidence boost.
“We know they are dangerous. It’s a big step up in class.
“We are capable of scoring and have tidied up defensively and we always seem to create chances.
“I just hope we can stay mentally strong in the tie and not get too emotional. And we will have to be patient and maybe have to rely in our goalkeeper to make some saves, as their goalkeeper did in Edinburgh.
“He (Adam Bogdan) is fit and will train tonight (Wednesday) and hopefully he will come through that okay. We had him pencilled in to play and nothing has changed from that.
“We have tidied up defensively in recent weeks and we always seem to create chances and that will be at the forefront of our minds.”
The game kicks of at 6pm UK time 7pm local time.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
