The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Stoppage-time winner caps fightback by Hibs
Neil Lennon’s side battle back from poor start against Asteras Tripolis
Florian Kamberi capped a memorable night at Easter Road as Hibernian came from two goals down to win 3-2 in stop page time against Asteras Tripolis.
The striker scored in added time to cap a brilliant second-half fightback from Neil Lennon’s side, whose Europa League hopes looked dead and buried at the break.
Georgios Kyriakopoulos hit a first-half brace to leave hibs facing a premature exit in the second round of qualifying, but an inspired second-half comeback was capped by goals from Efe Ambrose and David Gray to restore parity.
After the visitors had Triantafyllos Pasalidis dismissed, Kamberi completed the turnaround as the clock ticked past 90 minutes, poking the ball into the net at the far post to give the hosts a dramatic win and the upper hand in the tie.
Hibs struggled defensively when beating Runavik 12-5 on aggregate in the first round last week, and those frailties were again laid bare in the first period.
They enjoyed moments of their own, with John Mcginn and Steven Whittaker going close, but only had themselves to blame after going behind.
It was a well-worked move down the left that did it for Asteras, with Michalis Manias and Kyriakopoulos exchanging passes before the full-back hit a fierce drive at goal.
It appeared to catch Adam Bogdan offguard and the ball somehow made its way through him at the near post, but he had no chance with the second.
Again it came down the Hibs right, and again it was Kyriakopoulos with the goal but this time it was a brilliant hit, slicing across the ball to send it swerving away from Bogdan and in off the post from 25 yards on the angle.
It meant the Greek side had a two-goal lead going into the break, and Hibs with seemingly little chance of clawing it back.
The players responded brilliantly after the break, however.
They came flying out of the blocks with Martin Boyle leading the way, whipping the crowd into a frenzy before seeing a low drive beaten away by the goalkeeper.
Lennon’s change to bring Gray on at right-back and movevykint ass livka into a more familiar position in the middle of the pitch paid off, and Hibs dominated the second half.
The visitors gradually dropped deeper inside their own half and once the first goal came, there was no doubt about a second.
It was Ambrose who sparked the come back, thundering a header off the bar before scrambling it in, before gray lashed in to pull the sides level.
Asteras tried desperately to slow the game down but their cynical play eventually came unstuck as Pasalidis was sent off for a second yellow card with five minutes to play.
The Hibs pressure continued to mount and they got their winner after boyle’ s shot was saved but Kamberi poked in to spark wild celebrations and give the hosts a onegoal lead to take into the second leg in Greece.
Hibernian – Bogdan, Whittaker (Gray 45), Hanlon (Porteous 90+4), Boyle, Slivka, Mcginn, Stevenson, Mallan, Ambrose, Mcgregor, Kamberi. Subs not used – Bartley, Swanson, Laidlaw, Martin, Shaw. Asteras Tripolis – Athanasiadis, Pasalidis, Bellocq (Rolle 55), Tri ant afy ll opoulos, Manias, Iglesias, Tsilianidis (Christopoulos 86), Kyriakopoulos, Munafo Horta, Kotsiras, Kaltsas (Martínez 77). Referee – Andreas Ekberg, Sweden.