David Gray: Partizan Belgrade challenge will be new experience for Hibs

Hibernian head coach David Gray admitted the challenge that awaited them in Serbia could be a new experience for many of his players.

But Gray stressed that his approach of going out to win every game would not change when they take on Partizan Belgrade in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League.

Partizan beat Ukrainian side Oleksandria 6-0 on aggregate in the previous round and the 27-times champions of their country have a passionate fanbase that will provide a noisy backdrop for Thursday’s first leg.

“It will be very different,” Gray said. “It’s something the players will need to make sure they’re ready for, a real hostile environment, very intense when you see the games that they play, the support and everything that goes with that.

“So it’s a different challenge, one the players should relish and look forward to, because a lot of them won’t have experienced that before. I’ve not experienced that, as a coach certainly.

“We need to prepare the players for it, make sure they are ready for it.”

Partizan have an established history in European football. Like Hibs, they competed in the first European Cup and their away leg against Sporting Lisbon in the opening round was the first game of the tournament to kick off in 1955.

Partizan lost to Real Madrid in the next round, while Hibs reached the semi-finals, but the then Yugoslav champions went one stage further in 1966 when they lost to Real in the final.

More recently, they have progressed to the Conference League knockout rounds in 2022 and 2023 but have since experienced frustration in qualifiers.

They lost 6-0 on aggregate to Danish side Nordsjaelland in the Conference League play-offs two years ago and suffered qualifying defeats in all three competitions last season – losing to Dynamo Kyiv, Lugano and Gent.

Like Hibernian, they have dropped down from the Europa League this season following a penalty shootout defeat to AEK Larnaca of Cyprus.

Gray said: “It’s a really good opportunity to go over there and test yourself against a top-level opposition.

“The level of opposition and the level of performance required is going to have to be similar to the Midtjylland one before. But again, an opportunity to look forward to try and progress in the competition.”

Hibs were a minute away from taking Midtjylland to penalties at Easter Road last week in the Europa League qualifiers before a spectacular overhead kick earned the Danish side a 3-2 aggregate win.

“You always need to believe you can go and get a result,” Gray said. “That’s what I said going into the first game, going over there, you need to believe you can do it. If you don’t believe you’re going to do it, you’re wasting your time going over.

“And then certainly after the first leg, reminded the players that if you weren’t believing before, you certainly should now.

“But we need to play to our maximum to get through. We know that that hasn’t changed.

“But when we do do that, we’re a very good side – and we’ve demonstrated that already.

“We go into every single game trying to win the game. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. That is the mindset.

“I don’t think you can go into a game not trying to win it. So that doesn’t change. It’s just a different environment that we’re going into.”