TAKING charge of Hibernian in the League Cup final against Celtic at Hampden back in 2021 during his first spell as caretaker manager was a tall order for David Gray and then some.
Stepping into the away dugout for the second leg of the Conference League play-off against Aston Villa at Villa Park tonight, though, was an utterly thankless task for the Leith legend.
Unai Emery, whose team were leading 5-0 from the first leg at Easter Road last week and assured of a place in the group stage, chose to rest several key players and left his captain, Scotland internationalist John McGinn, out.
However, the Premier League outfit, who had scored 12 times in their previous three outings, still had far, far too much quality for their outclassed Premiership rivals.
READ MORE: PAOK 4 Hearts 0: Instant reaction to the burning issues
First half goals from Jhon Duran and Leon Bailey killed off the slim hopes the visitors had of recording a result against all the odds and salvaging some pride. Matty Cash came on in the second-half and added another.
Hibs certainly gave their followers some moments to cheer. But they were unable to avoid another heavy reverse and a thumping 8-0 aggregate defeat. Here are five talking points as they exited Europe.
EURO CONTENDERS
This was the first European game that Aston Villa had played at Villa Park in 13 long years and their supporters marked the occasion by packing out the famous old ground in large numbers.
The former European Cup winners’ place in the group stage of the was as good as guaranteed assured after an emphatic triumph in the Scottish capital.
Still, the chance to see their side in action in a competitive fixture against a team from another country for the first time since they lost the second leg of the Europa League play-off to Rapid Vienna back in 2010 was clearly an exciting one for them.
The Hibs fans who made the journey south to Birmingham – and there were around 2,200 of them inside the ground – made their presence felt as well and helped to create quite an atmosphere.
READ MORE: Rangers in Europa League boost as big guns swerved
Fireworks were set off as the teams took to the field – and Villa could make quite a bang in this competition in the coming months on the evidence of their outstanding play throughout this double header.
They may lack recent European experience as a club. But the same cannot be said of their manager Emery. He won the Europa League three times with Sevilla and then repeated the feat with Villarreal. Do not bet against him savouring Conference League glory this term.
EARLY BLOW
There was no chance whatsoever of Hibs staging any kind of a comeback despite their opponents not fielding their strongest side.
But Duran made sure of the hosts’ progress early in the first-half when he got on the end of a sumptuous long ball upfield from his team mate Pau Torres, outmuscled Rocky Bushiri and flicked past David Marshall.
It was a sublime finish from the Colombian and underlined once again what a quality side the seventh-placed outfit in the English top flight are. Bailey’s strike was not bad either. He cut inside Obita and rifled underneath Marshall. Cash showed why he is one of the hottest predators in the country with his opportunist effort.
CAUTIOUS GRAY
The folly of fielding such an attacking Hibs line-up against Villa in the first leg at Easter Road last week was cruelly exposed by the English side in a one-sided rout.
Gray still deployed Christian Doidge and Elie Youan up front last night - but he was far more cautious than Lee Johnson had been six days earlier and opted for a five man rearguard.
Bushiri, Paul Hanlon and Lewis Stevenson were flanked by wing backs Jordan Obita and Lewis Miller. The new formation didn’t prevent the visitors from losing once again and suffering a heavy aggregate defeat. Still, it was a far more sensible approach to take.
READ MORE: Celtic discover Champions League group stage opponents
The is no shortage of contenders for the vacancy which has arisen in Leith. Neil Lennon, who led the capital club to fourth place in the top flight, has declared his interest in the role. He would be a popular appointment. But Gray did his cause no great harm despite the loss that his charges suffered.
BOYLE BENCHED
Gray clearly had one eye on the Premiership match against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday when he selected his starting line-up for the rematch with Villa.
Martin Boyle, who is his top scorer in the 2023/24 campaign with four goals in eight appearances, and Dylan Vente, who has been on target twice in six outings, were both named among the replacements.
But Hibs still had their chances. Obita forced a fine save from goalkeeper Robin Olsen, Josh Campbell got into the opposition area and got a shot away and Doidge nodded wide in the opening 45 minutes.
Boyle came on for Youan in the second-half and worked hard to create an opening in the final third. But he will be fresh for what is an important game this weekend.
MARSHALL MISTAKES
Shipping eight goals in two games to a ream with Aston Villa’s resources is no disgrace. Marshall actually kept the scoreline semi-respectable with excellent saves from Ollie Watkins in the second half and Cash in injury time. But the Scotland goalkeeper could have done far better at the first and third goals.
He raced off his line and allowed Duran to slot past him and then spilled a Bailey free kick straight to the feet of Cash. He will have to do better going forward if Hibs are to stop conceding so many goals, improve their domestic form and haul themselves up the Premiership table.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel