Maribor boss wary of Hibs onslaught

Milanic and his players were stunned to find Hibs sharpshooters Anthony Stokes and Derek Riordan sitting on the bench last week as they powered to a seemingly unassailable lead in the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round.

But Milanic fully expects John Hughes' side to come out with all guns blazing tomorrow night, anticipating Hibs will throw everything at his team in the search for an early goal.

The former Slovenian captain said: "We got a good result, but I'm sure, just like I think my players are, that a new battle awaits us at Easter Road.

"We would like to play as well as we did in the first leg and make Hibs also think about defending and not just attacking. to play in their half and try to score.

"But we know they will try everything to score in the ealry stages of the game."

Milanic's words were echoed by defender Sinisa Andelkovic who admitted he's expecing a far busier 90 minutes than in the Stadion Ljudski where Hibs managed just two shots, at the end of either half by Liam Miller and Edwin de Graaf respectively, over the course of the entire game.

He said: "We are aware of the fact Hibs will play moer offensively. We must prevent them from scoring early but, as you know, in football everything is possible so we must be prepared for this kind of scenario.

"Hibs are dangerouis at set pieces and so our focus must be good defending on free-kicks and corners."

The Edinburgh club's threat from such situatiions could be increased if, as revealed exclusively in the Evening News on Monday, Hughes calls wayward star Sol Bamba back into the fold.

Bamba was left behind as his team-mates travelled to Slovenia after returning late from World Cup duty with the Ivory Coast but Hughes is contemplating fielding the towering stopper, insisting that while he remains disappointed with his player's actions, Hibs needs outweigh that particular spat.

Hughes does have a couple of injury worries with goalkeeper Graham Stack carrying a calf problem from the first leg while skipper Chris Hogg picked up a knock in the friendly defeat at Carlisle although both

were expected to resume training today.