Hibs boss Hughes prepares for Europa League clash by trying to outfox spy

All the hard work has been done on the training pitch, days of punishing double sessions, unrelenting even as John Hughes' players were being honed to peak fitness with four testing matches in the space of just eight days in Holland.

Now it is over to Hughes and his backroom staff as they sit down to draw up the blueprint which, they hope, will help steer the Easter Road club beyond the reach of Slovenian outfit Maribor and to within 180 tantalising minutes of the Europa League's lucrative group stage.

While the Hibs manager has publicly stated that is his goal, it is not a naive dream. Hughes is well aware that the stature of the clubs Hibs could meet should they negotiate their way through their third qualifying round, the first leg on Thursday and the second, in Edinburgh a week later, means it will take an effort of Herculean proportions to progress.

But even to give his players that opportunity, Hughes has vowed to leave no stone unturned, adamant preparations for the fortchoming encounters against Slovenia's most successful side, winners of eight championships, will be as meticulous off the pitch as they have been on it.

Assistant boss Brian Rice has already provided an initial report based on witnessing Maribor's 2-0 win in their Stadion Ljudski, two goals from Dalibor Volas completing a 3-1 aggregate win over Hungarian club Videoton, with further information to come from last night's league match away to Rudar Velenje.

A dvd of the Videoton game has already been secured, a live feed on-line from the match having been attained at the team's headquarters at the Parpendal sports complex on the outskirts of Arnhem and watched with interest by the players.

As expected, however, Hughes, Rice and their coaches have been busy behind the scenes, working their contacts throughout Europe to compile as comprehensive a dossier as possible as they lay their plans, the primary aim being to ensure the tie remains "alive" when the Slovenians pitch up at Easter Road for the second leg.

Hughes said: "We are not quite there yet, we still have a wee bit to do but we've had a long, hard nine days. Everyone has got their game time, now we'll rest them up for a couple of days. We'll put the finishing touches to it today and tomorrow and be ready to go for Thursday."

While the players' workload before they depart on Wednesday will drop slightly, UEFA rules requiring them to be in Slovenia at least 24 hours before kick-off, that of Hughes and his staff will, if anything, increase. Hughes said: "Our preparations will be meticulous in the dossier we are building, we are starting to bring the database together, we have all the dvds and they are a good football side.

But there are also weaknesses there but we have worked hard for it and we are looking forward to it."

Hibs completed their preparations - at least in terms of match practice - by wrapping up their Dutch tour with a draw against Vitesse Arnhem, the last of the four Eredivisie sides, they'd faced, finishing with a record of a win, a draw and two defeats although, as Hughes correctly stated, the results don't matter, the over-riding concern being to allow each member of his squad enough game time to move towards full fitness while using these opportunities to try players in different positions, to tinker with formations and systems and, most importantly in his eyes, to work towards the Dutch sytle of football he wants to see adopted at Easter Road.

As he expected, that approach - patient possession - produced mixed fortunes, Hibs a distant second best as they were crushed 3-0 by Heracles in their opening match, surprising NEC Nijmegen by playing them at their own game, a match won by yet another exquisite Derek Riordan free-kick, stumbling a bit again against Ado Den Haag and finally coming from behind, with Riordan's second goal in three days, to force a 1-1 draw with Vitesse.

If, at times, the team deployed by Hughes assumed an experimental look, the line-up against Vitesse was distinctly unfamiliar, skipper Chris Hogg, Ian Murray, Liam Miller, Kevin McBride, Michael Hart and Paul Hanlon spent the entire 90 minutes on the bench although, one would imagine, the vast majority of them will start on Thursday.

And for good reason, while one match was taking place on the pitch in the small village of Driel on the outskirts of Arnhem, another was being played between Hughes and Maribor's assistant coach Ante Simundza, who took copious notes throughout as a colleague filmed the proceedings.

To that end, only Riordan and Colin Nish wore strips bearing numbers corresponding to those on the team-sheet distributed before kick-off although, it is understood, Simundza finally tumbled to the ruse, working hard to put names to numbers although given six of Hibs' "big hitters" played no part you'd have to question just how much he learned given that Hughes also abandoned the 4-5-1 formation deployed in previous matches in favour of a 4-4-2.

Hughes feigned suprise when it was suggested to him he'd tried to pull the wool over Ante's eyes or even indulged in a bit of cheating, saying: "Call it what you want, I think it's thinking out of the box."

Regardless of those games, Hughes insisted Simundza would have learned little, Hibs enjoying the early possession without creating a chance before Graham Stack produced two superb saves to deny Roy de Ruiter and then Vitesse's Slovenian midfielder Dalibor Stevanovic with John Rankin taking a De Ruiter header off the line before the tall striker got his head to a Stevanovic corner to open the scoring.

Hibs should probably have had a penalty when Nish was caught in the face by the high boot of Vitesse captain Civard Sprockel and Riordan found the ball sticking under his feet as he attempted to cash in on a mistake Jop van der Linden. Riordan, though, levelled things, blasting a free-kick into the defensive wall but quick enough to drill the rebound into the corner of the net before substitute goalkeeper Eloy Room could react.

Hughes said: "I don't think that would have impressed anyone. We went about it in the right manner and, if I had any complaints, it was a wee bit too slow, we had hoped for the surface to be a bit quicker which might have suited us but it dried up and was a bit sticky."

While well aware he hadn't seen Hibs at their best or a number of the club's more prominent players, Ante insisted he'd still picked up enough food for thought as he dashed for home and last night's match. He said: "Hibs are an organised side, they have some good players and it will be tough." Refusing to identify those players who had caught his eye, he added: "I don't think they have any superstars but they didn't play the style of football I expected. I thought they'd play more long balls but they want to play and keep the ball on the ground."Ante admitted, though, the fact Maribor will have played four competitive matches by the time Hibs arrive - they won their opening league game against Triglav 5-0 with striker Vito Plut scoring a hat-trick - could work in the Slovenian side's favour. He said: "We have already enjoyed the competition, Hibs have not so I think it will help us."

Hibs (4-4-2): Stack (Smith 46); Wotherspoon, Stephens, Thicot, Stevenson; De Graaf, Galbraith, Rankin, Riordan; Stokes, Nish (Currie 46). Subs not used: Murray, Hogg, McBride, Miller, Hart, Hanlon.