Late heartache for Hibs as Midtjylland hit extra-time winner at Easter Road

Hibernian have been knocked out of the Europa League in agonising fashion after suffering late heartache at the hands of Midtjylland at Easter Road.

The game looked poised for a penalty shoot-out until the Danish side struck in the last minute of extra-time to win 2-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate.

After a goalless 90 minutes, Dario Osorio opened the scoring from distance in extra time before Rocky Bushiri equalised for the home side.

Junior Brumado then won it at the death with an acrobatic finish after 120 minutes of football in the capital.

Hibs will now drop into the Conference League, where they will play Serbian side Partizan Belgrade.

David Gray’s men were quickest out of the traps as they took the game to the visitors in the early stages, with chances falling to Martin Boyle and Warren O’Hora in the opening ten minutes.

Jamie McGrath then fired a shot just over the bar as the home side looked to get themselves in front.

And they had the ball in the net just moments later when Kieron Bowie turned home from inside the box, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Midtjylland then slowly started to get themselves into the game and had a couple of good opportunities towards the end of the half, but nothing that caused Hibs goalkeeper Jordan Smith who made two comfortable saves.

The game and the tie remained level going into the break, with Hibs probably feeling like they should have taken advantage of their early chances.

Midtjylland thought they had got themselves in front when Franculino Djú put the ball in the net early in the second half, but that was also ruled out after a lengthy VAR check.

Chris Cadden came close up the other end shortly after the disallowed goal when he forced a good save from visiting keeper Jonas Lossl.

The Danish side then had a good period of possession as they started to put the Hibs’ backline under prolonged pressure in the hunt for a winning goal.

But after 90 minutes, the score remained 0-0 on the night and 1-1 on aggregate, meaning the sides faced another half hour of football in extra time.

Midtjylland finally broke the deadlock just three minutes after the restart when Dario Osorio fired an unstoppable strike from distance that flew past Smith and into the net.

Hibs almost hit back instantly when Nicky Cadden burst through the defence before his shot was deflected wide, and Josh Campbell headed wide from the resulting corner.

They got their equaliser soon after when Elie Youhan did well to get down the byline at pace before firing the ball back across the box for Bushiri to tap it into the net and make it 1-1 on the night.

But just as it looked as though it was heading for a penalty shoot-out, Junior Brumando popped up with an acrobatic overhead kick to win the tie on the 120th minute.