Jamie McGrath scores on Hibernian debut in first-leg draw at Midtjylland

Jamie McGrath scored inside seven minutes of his Hibernian debut as David Gray’s side secured a first-leg draw in Denmark.

Former Aberdeen midfielder McGrath opened the scoring from a free-kick as Hibs drew 1-1 against Midtjylland in the Europa League second qualifying round.

McGrath spotted a gap at the near post as the home goalkeeper awaited a cross after the Republic of Ireland international had won a free-kick on the left wing.

His effort was clawed out from behind the line as Hibs delighted more than 1,000 noisy away fans following a bright start.

Hibs were 18 minutes from claiming an away win but Aral Simsir curled home from a 25-yard free-kick to leave the tie all square ahead of next Thursday’s second leg at Easter Road.

Gray’s side started brightly in Herning and Martin Boyle came close on several occasions before McGrath’s early opener.

Boyle was close to connecting with Chris Cadden’s cross, then saw a shot deflected past the post before heading wide from a glorious chance from Dylan Levitt’s delivery.

Hibs were soon in front and then survived a series of set-pieces before Boyle forced an error in the home defence that led to Kieron Bowie having a shot blocked from 10 yards out.

Goalkeeper Jordan Smith was untroubled in the first half but Hibs had a let-off when Franculino Dju blazed over from 15 yards as the visiting defence backtracked amid a counter-attack.

Boyle thought he had put Hibs two ahead in the 41st minute when he fired inside the goalkeeper’s near post but he was half a yard offside when Bowie played him through.

Josh Mulligan tried to emulate McGrath’s debut goal 10 minutes into the second half but the former Dundee midfielder saw his 25-yard strike held.

Smith showed adept handling to deal with two long-range efforts and saw Pedro Bravo’s curling shot deflected just wide as Hibs continued to frustrate last year’s Danish league runners-up.

But the hosts got their breakthrough after Jack Iredale was booked for a trip 25 yards from his goal. Simsir curled the free-kick over the wall and into the top corner.

Boyle had a half chance to put Hibs back in front following good work from Mulligan but the forward was quickly crowded out and his shot was blocked.

Smith soon kept Hibs level with a close-range stop from Kevin Mbabu, the former Newcastle player who had a loan spell with Rangers in 2015 but failed to make an appearance for the Light Blues.

There were four bookings in the bad-tempered closing stages as Hibs held on to take a positive result back to Edinburgh.