Dnipro spies will be at Easter Road on Saturday

The Ukrainian outfit will dispatch coach Vadym Tyshchenko and general director Andriy Stetsenko to Easter Road to prepare a dossier for head coach, 64-year-old former goalkeeper Evgeniy Kucherevskiy, ahead of the first leg match in Edinburgh a week on Thursday.

Hibs boss Tony Mowbray, along with chief scout John Park, has already made the 3600-mile round trip to Dnipropetrovsk to assess the task facing his side against a team which reached the last 32 of last season's competition, topping a group which included Real Zaragoza, Club Bruges and Anderlecht along the way.

But, knowing the rigours of a journey which takes ten hours and three flights in each direction, Mowbray will resist the temptation to have another spying trip on Dnipro this weekend.

Kucherevskiy's side will travel to meet Vorksla hoping to end their miserable start in the Visha Liga which has seen them win just two of their opening seven matches to lie ninth in the table.

In addition to having seen Dnipro in action at first hand, Mowbray has also secured a DVD of them in action against Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk.

And the Hibs boss expects to also have a tape of Ukraine's World Cup qualifying match against Georgia - a game which, despite ending in a 1-1 draw, enabled Oleg Blokhin's side to become the first European nation to qualify for next summer's finals in Germany - delivered shortly.

He said: "Dnipro have practically the same team as last season and they have six or seven of their players in the national squad which has qualified from a group which contains Denmark, who beat England quite comfortably recently, and Turkey who are no mugs.

"It's more about getting to know their style of play and we are looking to get to know the strengths of their individuals.

"They are sure to be well organised and they will be as ready for us as we will be for them when the game comes around. Dnipro are a strong side with plenty of experience which highlights the fact we have a tough task ahead of us."

BBC Scotland have confirmed they will broadcast both legs of the clash - the first at Easter Road on September 15 and the second in the Ukraine on the 29th.