How Hibs failed to heed manager's warnings in Andorra on night of Pyrenean woe for capital club

Hibs goalkeeper David Marshall was badly at fault for the Andorran outfit's second goal.

Having watched their opponents in the previous round, Hibs boss Lee Johnson had warned his men that they could not afford to go behind, but the players who started at the tiny Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella failed to heed his warnings.

In their first competitive match of the new season, the tempo was slow, the play pedestrian and the urgency missing for the majority of the match as they took their time to adapt to settle into the game and that proved costly as the hosts built up a two-goal lead – the latter aided by a David Marshall blunder.

Just the day before the match it was revealed that the former Scotland No 1 had been replaced by Paul Hanlon as team captain, with his gaffer explaining that it gave him the freedom to focus on the tussle for his starting berth following the arrivals of Jojo Wollacott and Max Boruc during the close season.

Johnson opted to stick with Marshall for the opening game in the European tie but was left frustrated as the 38-year-old, along with too many of his team-mates, failed to live up to the standards demanded, especially in the first half, where the home side got their noses in front through Adrian Gallego in the 15th minute and then tried to squeeze the life out of the game and kill time.

It was a tactic that worked for them until the dying minutes of the contest. Hibs had shown more encouraging signs after the interval when the arrival of Joe Newell, Christian Doidge, Dan Mackay and then Jimmy Jeggo all forced some fresh impetus. If the newcomers had enlivened the side, the Andorrans’ second goal, when Marshall gifted Jean Luc Assoubre a tap in, really lit a fuse. Suddenly they pressed higher, got more passes and more players into the box and the lacklustre attempts of the first half were replaced by a header on target from Adam Le Fondre and a couple of inviting deliveries into more dangerous areas, easing the pressure on a defence that did not look settled, suggesting that the return of Will Fish for a second loan period could be timely.

With the likes of Elias Melkersen failing to spark and Elie Youan’s decision-making leaving him out of position and, all too soon, out of possession, it will have been frustrating for the Hibs fans to see talisman Martin Boyle on the bench but not involved. But while there was lots to be critical on a night when Hibs let themselves down, particularly in that opening 45 minutes, there is still reason to believe that all is not lost. That was not the case as the minutes ticked down and openings were plugged by an organised and resolute Inter Club d’Escales but, cranking up the second half pressure, the Scottish Premiership side eventually reduced the deficit in the 90th minute and Newell’s free-kick will give them belief that they can still piece together an aggregate win on the bigger, slicker Leith pitch, and put this performance behind them.