Dylan Levitt sounds Hibs note of caution as he lifts lid on Dundee United's European collapse

Dylan Levitt knows from painful experience that a laudable home victory does not guarantee safe passage into the next round when it comes to European competition.

A member of the Dundee United side mauled 7-0 by AZ Alkmaar last term, the Tannadice team had travelled to the Netherlands in buoyant mood and in possession of a 1-0 lead from the home encounter. But, in a cautionary tale to his Hibs team-mates, who have taken a 3-1 advantage with them to face FC Luzern in Switzerland this week, he knows how quickly momentum can shift in Europe.

“Against AZ, we kind of crumbled a bit when they scored a couple of goals,” said the 22-year-old midfielder, who swapped Tayside for Leith in the summer. “We can’t afford to do that if they do score early on. It’s about being compact, narrow, hard to beat – not letting them slide through passes. There will be times we’ll need to kill the momentum.

“In the AZ game we knew what we needed to do but simply didn’t do it. Obviously, conceding early put us on the back foot and we lost a lot of confidence as a team. It was difficult to come back from that.”

Hibs' summer signing Dylan Levitt is out to avoid a repeat of last year's humiliating European exit with Dundee United. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

In truth, it was impossible, as United exited the European stage with all the grace of an elephant tumbling down the stairs. And, such was the trauma, it had a detrimental impact on their season as a whole, as managers came and went and confidence plummeted. So too, did the club, ultimately, finishing bottom of the Premiership and crashing down into the Championship.

“I think it did [contribute],” said the Welshman. “Just coming home after that game, on that Thursday, there was not much talk going on and Friday was the same in training. And, going into a game on Sunday, everyone’s confidence was really low and it was hard to change the mindset after such a big loss.”

Hibs’ form at Easter Road in their two home ties thus far in their Europa Conference League qualifiers has been creditable but they know they will have to improve on their only away showing, well aware that squandering their two-goal cushion could be detrimental to their season.

A win to set up a showpiece play-off against Aston Villa in the next round could raise spirits and expectations, after two losses to kick off their league campaign.

“That would be massive for all the lads and give them a massive confidence boost going into the league campaign and the cups. You know you can kick on from there,” Levitt added.

“Last week they had a lot of the ball in the first half. We controlled the game a lot more than we did at United against AZ. Last year it was 1-0 and while it was a massive win, we knew they would be right up for it.

“But we scored three goals against a good team last week, so we know what we can do going forward. We can take a massive amount of confidence from this first leg. We worked hard, to a man.

"A two goal lead is much better because, from past experience, if you are only one up and they get an early goal, all the momentum goes with the home side.”