Easter Road legend Bobby Duncan urges hibs to dazzle against Maribor

Almost 43 years have elapsed, but today every fan who was there can recall, with remarkable clarity, the night Hibs stunned Italian giants Napoli, firing five goals beyond legendary goalkeeper Dino Zoff.

It was the most astonishing fightback in the Easter Road club's history, overcoming a 4-1 defeat in Italy to clinch their place in the third round of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the predecessor of the UEFA Cup which now, of course, has been renamed yet again as the Europa League.

Tomorrow night, John Hughes' players will need to produce an equally epic performance if they are to overcome the three-goal deficit suffered in Slovenia last week to bypass NK Maribor and reach the competition's play-off stage. And, today, Bobby Duncan, the star who sparked that memorable display on the evening of 29 November 1967, admitted he'd be delighted if, come Friday morning, the hammering of Napoli is forgotten, at least temporarily, as Hibs fans celebrate another night to remember. Duncan said: "I'd say Hibs are in a very similar predicament today as we were in all those years ago.

"In fact, I'd say we were probably in a worse situation because Napoli were top of the Italian league.

"In those days, Italian football was renowned for the catenaccio (literally translated as door bolt], their highly organised defensive approach which saw their teams rarely concede a goal."

Hibs had, however, scored in Naples, although Colin Stein's goal meant they still needed three at Easter Road as the Italians had won 4-1, the away goal rule still such a novelty at the time that the Hibs programme featured an explanation for those who were still baffled.

Duncan recalled: "Napoli had a player called Altafini, who had destroyed us in the first leg but he was so confident they had the tie won that he declared he did no want to come to Scotland in November because it was such a cold country.

"Our manager Bob Shankly was probably the only man in the country who thought we could overcome that first-leg deficit. Despite that result, he claimed he'd seen weaknesses in their game - I only wish he'd told us what they were before the match over there."

As much as Altafini's absence lifted Hibs, their pre-match hope of winning the toss to kick down the famous Easter Road slope in the first half rather than doing so after the interval, vanished as the Italians, having obviously done their homework chose that plan of attack.

Plan B came into operation, to score an early goal, something Hughes' players will no doubt be hoping for tomorrow. And it duly came as Duncan let fly with a long-range effort which caught Zoff off his guard, his first goal for the club.

Duncan said: "I only scored two first-team goals for Hibs, against Napoli and a few years later when we played Malmo from Sweden in the same competition.

"I don't know how far out I was, but if you listen to people now you'd think I'd hit it from the bottom of The Walk."

Pat Quinn added a second just before half-time and, after the interval, Hibs left Napoli demoralised as Peter Cormack, Pat Stanton and Stein scored, reputedly the only time Zoff ever conceded five goals in the one match.

Duncan said: "Scoring a second right before half-time gave us a lift and their heads went down. They resorted to the usual tactics, jersey pulling, a bit of spitting and they had Girardo sent off for kicking Eric Stevenson.

"I don't think our goalkeeper Willie Wilson had a shot to save in the second 45 minutes. Given the way the Italian sides defended at that time, I don't think they expected to lose one goal, far less five."

Amazingly, Duncan has never seen the crucial goal he scored again. He said: "In those days, ,they were shown once, after the news at ten. So we had the choice of watching Archie McPherson - or whoever it was - or to go out to celebrate. No guesses as to what we did."

Today Duncan, a fire officer in Lothian's hospitals, has his fingers crossed Hughes' players can emulate that feat, believing today's side are in exactly the same position as he and his team-mates were all those years ago.

Revealing he'll be joining many former players at tomorrow's match, he said: "From what I've been reading of the Maribor players they come over as being quite confident, they seem to think the game is over and are saying the same things as Napoli.

"If Hibs can get an early goal as we did who knows what might happen? You never know what going a goal down might do to them. An early goal, something in the opening 20 minutes, would certainly get the crowd going and maybe raise a few doubts in their minds.

"Hibs have to believe they can do it."

Duncan agreed, however, that although they'll desperately be seeking the first goal, Hibs must guard against losing another which, with the away goals rule, would leave them needing five to progress. "Hibs will have to really go for it but at the same time they'll have to be careful. The goals they lost in Slovenia were all down to mistakes, Ian Murray slipping then David Wotherspoon and Kevin McBride losing possession, something they can't afford to do again.

"Maribor also looked very quick on the break so they'll have to watch themselves but at the same time they'll have to throw caution to the wind a bit as the longer the game goes on without a goal the more confident they'll become and the more anxious the fans will be.

"Unfortunately, Hibs won't have the advantage of coming down the slope as we had but in the likes of Derek Riordan, Anthony Stokes and Colin Nish they've certainly got three strikers capable of scoring goals, the only question is can they get the three needed to even force extra time.

"By all accounts, Hibs hardly had a shot at goal over there but, to my mind, they'll have to go 4-4-2 tomorrow to get all three of those guys on, probably with Stokes up alongside Nish with Riordan wide on the left.

"Obviously, it's going to be difficult but no-one thought we could do it back in 1967.

"If the boys can do it again tomorrow night then, to be perfectly honest, I'd be happy if in a few years' time the fans were talking about the great fightback against Maribor rather than our win over Napoli."