Hibernians eliminated after narrow defeat

Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus secured a place in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League after defeating Hibernians 1-0 in the second leg of the first qualifying round at the Centenary Stadium on Thursday.

Therefore after the 1-0 win at home, Shakhtyor advance with a 2-0 aggregate score and will now meet Esbjerg fB of Denmark in the next round.

Coach Stefano Sanderra made no changes from the team which lost narrowly in Soligorsk, leaving new signing Jens Wemmer out of the starting line-up.

The Paolites held the initiative for most of the first half and things seemed going in the right direction after Aleksandr Selyava was sent off for the visitors on the 33rd minute.

However against the run of play, Shakhtyor Soligorsk took the lead on the 64th minute when substitute Nikita Tatakarov’s cross shot from the left hit the upright before crossing the goal line.

To make matters worse for Hibernians, Ferdinando Apap received a second yellow card on 73 minutes, therefore leaving also the Paolites in ten men.

HIBS Marko Jovicic, Timothy Tabone Desira, Ferdinando Apap, Leandro Marcio Barbosa da Silva (67′ Jens Wemmer), Joseph Mbong (80′ Connor Zammit), Jake Grech (80′ Matthew Farrugia, Terence Groothusen, Bjorn Kristensen, Dunstan Vella, Andrei Agius, Leonardo Nanni.

SHAKHTYOR Andrei Klimovich, Sergei Matveichik, Nikola Antic, Aleksandr Selyava, Valeri Gromyko (78′ Igor Burko), Pavel Rybak, Elis Bakaj (82′ Nikolai Yanush), Alesandr Sachivko, Yuri Kovalev, Julius Szoke, Max Ebong (64′ Nikita Tatarkov).

Referee: Furkat Atazhanov (KAZ)
Assistant Referees: Yevgeniy Belskiy, Denis Labashov (KAZ)
Fourth Official: Zhandos Abzhan (KAZ)