David Gray revealed his Hibernian players had their heads in ice buckets as he lauded them for “an incredible achievement” after closing out a 2-1 aggregate victory over Shkendija to set up a Conference League play-off round showdown with Belgian side Gent.
The Hibees arrived in North Macedonia protecting a slender lead from the first leg of their third qualifying round tie after Warren O’Hora’s late winner at Easter Road.
And that goal from the Irish defender ultimately proved decisive as the two sides played out a tightly contested 0-0 draw in the second leg in the searing heat of the Todor Proeski National Arena on Thursday night.
After withstanding some late pressure to eliminate a Shkendija side that reached the knockout phase play-off round of last year’s Conference League, the Hibs players celebrated in front of their 350 jubilant supporters who had travelled to the Balkans.
“I’m delighted for the players,” manager Gray told BBC Sport. “It’s a brilliant time to get your first clean sheet of the season. I just said to the players, don’t underestimate how big an achievement that is against a really good side who made it to the knockout stages of the competition last season.
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“Added to that, the conditions, the heat, we had to deal with all these things. I don’t think it was a brilliant game, but we put our bodies on the line and the attitude was there.
“I thought we had the best chances of the game, but right towards the end, whilst it was still in the balance, you require your big players to step up and to a man, they’ve all done that.
“The most important thing now is, can you recover the players as quick as we can and get them back to cool down? I think every single one of them has their head in an ice bucket at the moment because of the heat.
“But they can be really proud of what they’ve achieved, because it’s an incredible achievement.”
Hibs are set to face Gent in Belgium in the first leg next Thursday.
