Source: FOOTYMAD
Mountain To Climb For Hbs
A three goal lead to overcome by a side with not the best defence in the world may be a step too far for Hibs tonight. Hibs midfielder Liam Miller insists their Europa League tie is not over despite being faced with the near impossible task of coming back from a three-goal deficit. John Hughes' side were thrashed 3-0 by NK Maribor at the Ljudski vrt Stadion last Thursday and the Slovenian side are confident of carrying on where they left off tonight - despite travel difficulties getting to Easter Road for training and a fire alarm at the hotel. Hibs manager John Hughes is expected to change his starting line up from the lone striker role handed to Colin Nish away from home. It is expected that Anthony Stokes and Derek Riordan will be restored to the first team and playmaker Miller insists the players still firmly believe they can secure a win.He said: "I still don't believe the tie is over. We've got the home game to play and I think if we get an early goal then it's all to play for again. Personally, I don't think we played as well as we can do away from home and it's up to ourselves to turn it around. Maybe there were a couple of reasons why it didn't work last week, I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I know we can play a lot better than we did out there. I just think we let ourselves down and we know that. It's up to ourselves to turn it around in the home tie. It means everything to the lads at the moment to stay in the competition. Obviously, a lot of lads haven't experienced European nights and I'm sure it will be a special atmosphere on Thursday night.'' Miller admits the boost of an early goal against Maribor is crucial as they look for the supporters to give them a huge lift against their talented opponents. He added: "It would be massive to get a good start. If we score the first goal and go in at half-time 1-0 up or even more it's going to be game on. We've just got to try and get forward and try and get that early goal and we'll see what happens from there. It will also be of massive importance to have the fans behind us. We're at home and if we can play to the best that I know we can play then it will be a really good game.'' Editor Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba.net)Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba.net)This is Scottish-Fitba.Net
