HIBS STILL HOLDING OUT FOR A NEW HERO
JUST 24 hours after Hibs had bid a fond farewell to John McGinn, Easter Road was left waiting in vain for a new hero to step forward.
Despite the best efforts of Stevie Mallan, who manfully peppered a succession of shots at goal all evening, Neil Lennon’s side were unable to crack the Norse code.
A well-organised Molde defence remained stubbornly unbroken at full-time in this Leith stalemate.
Yet Lennon will be pleased by the fact his Hibs side had recorded their first clean sheet in five Europa League qualifiers, home and away. A nicked goal in Norway next Thursday night and the capital side may just take a step closer to becoming the first non-Old Firm Scottish team since Jimmy Calderwood’s Aberdeen side in 2008-09 to reach the group stage of this competition.
And with Dinamo Minsk shocking big-spending Zenit St Petersburg 4-0 in last night’s first leg in Belarus, the road ahead for the winner of this tie may now not look quite as perilous.
Pre-match, Hibs had suffered a blow when keeper Adam Bogdan — so heroic in the 1-1 draw against Asteras Tripolis in Greece — missed out with a hip injury.
His place went to Ross Laidlaw, and the Scot did not put a foot wrong all night.
Likewise young Ryan Porteous, who kept his place in defence after Darren McGregor did not make it back from a knee injury.
There was a boost when striker Flo Kamberi returned from his knee injury to partner Martin Boyle up front.
With McGinn away to Aston Villa for £2.7million, the Hibs midfield was without a player Lennon described as one of the finest to pull on the club’s iconic green jersey in the last 30 years.
In place of the Scotland international, Lennon selected Lithuania international Vykintas Slivka to help screen the defence alongside Marvin Bartley.
It was a sure sign of how important a clean sheet might be after beating Faroese side NSI Runavik 6-1 here and recovering from 2-0 down to beat Asteras 3-2.
Hibs were not the only ones ruing the sudden departure of their best player.
Molde’s leading striker Erling Braut Haland — son of former Leeds United defender Alf-Inge Haland — was absent as he jetted to Austria to sign for RB Salzburg in a £5m deal.
However, the hulking Haland, who has scored eight goals in 15 matches this season, is set to be loaned back to Molde, so may yet play in the second leg.
Hibs looked keen to lay down a marker from the very start, with the electric pace of Boyle causing problems for Molde from kick-off.
First, the frontman turned on his burners and torched the visiting defence down the right flank.
From his cutback, Slivka’s shot was deflected wide of goal. Then Boyle’s cross for Kamberi was cleared as far as Mallan, whose volley flew over the bar.
Mallan went even closer moments later after taking a cute pass inside from Lewis Stevenson.
The former St Mirren midfielder curled a 25-yarder that beat Molde keeper Andreas Linde, but thumped back off the crossbar.
As impressive as Hibs were, they could not get the lead their start merited.
And while Molde were sloppy when playing out from the back, they were a far more impressive sight going forward.
A slick move saw Eirik Hestad picked out Petter Strand in space on the right side of the penalty box. His cutback was beyond Laidlaw and into the danger zone, but Paul Hanlon was alert and came to the rescue with a block.
Up at the other end, Kamberi showed terrific physicality to rob Vegard Forren before setting off on a run on goal. But his shot was skewed just wide of the far post.
Midway through the first half the contest started getting a little bad-tempered.
Kamberi and Kristoffer Haugen were involved in a brief shoving match near the touchline after the Molde player had floored Efe Ambrose.
Bartley then showed great industry in winning the ball back from Molde. He fed Mallan whose shot was well saved by Andreas Linde.
Mallan looks like proving a fine addition to Hibs. But as half-time approached the Easter Road side were missing the ability of McGinn to drive the play up they park.
They could also have done with the lock-picking ability of Dylan McGeouch, now at Sunderland.
After the break, Boyle thought he had put Hibs in front when he slid on to a Slivka through ball. But his effort skidded fractionally past the post.
David Gray looked to have put the hosts in front when he leapt to head a Mallan corner towards goal. But, somehow, Linde dived low to his left and saved.
Boyle then tumbled under the weak challenge of Forren but Hungarian referee Adam Farkas rightly waved Hibs’ penalty protests aside.
In an attempt to inject fresh creativity and danger, Lennon brought on new signing Emerson Hyndman and young striker Oli Shaw. Bartley and Kamberi made way. The home fans roared their heroes on to grab a slender lead to take to Norway.
But Hibs’ attacking attempts were summed up when Ambrose set off on a terrific mazy run two minutes into injury time, only to spoil his good work with a woeful pass to the opposition.
Then came a fine chance deep in stoppage time. Gray nodded down a Mallan delivery into the path of Hyndman. But the on-loan Bournemouth midfielder could not find a debut goal as he struck the ball straight at Molde keeper Linde.
The applause that rang out around Easter Road at full-time suggested the Hibs fans remain confident their side can progress next Thursday night at the Aker Stadium. It remains firmly in the balance.