Hibs will look to take another step closer to sealing league phase football in the Conference League on Thursday night as they welcome Partizan Belgrade to Easter Road in the second leg of their Conference League third round qualifier.
Hibs managed to dust themselves down following their agonising defeat to Midtjylland in the Europa League, as they left Belgrade last Thursday with a two-goal lead in the first leg of their Conference League third-round qualifier, on an evening where our man Mark correctly tipped The Hibees to avoid defeat.
After seeing their opponents go down to 10 men in the first half, David Gray’s men took full advantage of their numerical advantage, as a brace from Martin Boyle puts The Hibees in a strong position in the tie.
For the second consecutive match in the Premiership, Hibs raced into a two-goal lead inside the opening half hour, but unlike their opener at Dundee before, the Leith club failed to collect all three points on Sunday as they drew 2-2 with Kilmarnock.
Partizan, on the other hand, managed to maintain their 100% start to their domestic season at the weekend, as they won 2-7 away at Napredak, leaving them level on points at the top of the Serbian Superliga table with Vojvodina and city-rivals Crvena Zvezda.
How the bookies view it: Hibees favourites
The bookmakers have installed Hibs as favourites to extend their first-leg lead on Thursday night, with BoyleSports pricing them at 5/6.
The same firm has a Partizan victory on the night priced at 21/10, whilst a draw is 13/5.
Head to head: Second-ever meeting
Perhaps unsurprisingly, last Thursday was the first time these two clubs crossed paths, with Hibs winning 0-2.
Players to watch: Boyle to bag against Belgrade opposition again?
Martin Boyle remains Hibs’ talisman, as his 15 goals in the Premiership helped guide the capital club to a third-placed finish last season. The Australian also scored both goals in Belgrade last Thursday night in the first leg, and is an appealing 9/4 at Unibet to get on the scoresheet here.
In their need for goals, Partizan will look to Jovan Milosevic, who is on loan from Stuttgart. The young Serbian scored a hat-trick in the previous round against FC Olexandriya, as well as the opener in their 2-7 thrashing of Napredak at the weekend, and is 2/1 at PaddyPower to get on the scoresheet in the Scottish capital.
Predicted line-ups:
After being rested at the weekend, Jack Iredale, Chris Cadden and Martin Boyle are likely to come back into the starting lineup, but captain Joe Newell is still missing through injury.
Partizan will be without Vukasin Djurdjevic following his red card in the first leg.
Hibernian: Smith, O’Hora, Bushiri, Iredale, Cadden, Levitt, Mulligan, McGrath, Obita, Bowie, Boyle
Partizan Belgrade: Milosevic, Roganovic, Stojkovic, Simic, Jurcevic, Dragojevic, Ugresic, Vukotic, Milic, Trifunovic, Milosevic
Anything else catch the eye?
Hibs have done superbly leaving Belgrade with a two-goal advantage, but you wouldn’t say the tie is done given the number of times Scottish Clubs outside of Rangers have choked on the continental stage in the last decade or two.
Partizan simply have to score at least twice just to force the tie to extra time, so that should lead to an open second leg in the Scottish capital on Thursday night.
Both Teams to Score & Over 2.5 Goals has paid out in both of Hibernian’s Premiership contests this season – and given the same has landed in each of Partizan’s last two domestic encounters – I like the look of a repeat at 10/11 at BoyleSports.
GambleAware