Dungannon Swifts have once-in-a-career shot at an historic European success, says Rodney McAree
They take a 1-0 lead into the return leg of their Conference League clash with FC Vaduz.
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Scotsman
5 hours ago
- Scotsman
Rangers reaction: Russell Martin's 'incredible' claim, man they can't keep relying on and opponent revealed
Head coach revels in Champions League progress just five weeks after starting work with squad Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Proud Rangers head coach Russell Martin showered his players with praise after they progressed past Panathinaikos to reach the third qualifying round of the Champions League - but admitted they need to be less reliant on goalkeeper Jack Butland going forward. Rangers overcame the Greek side 3-1 on aggregate following a 1-1 second-leg draw at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. Protecting a 2-0 lead from the first encounter at Ibrox last week, the Scottish side fell behind to a header from Filip Djuricic on 54 minutes, only to respond emphatically on the hour mark when substitute Djeidi Gassama equalised just three minutes after coming on. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Rangers will now take on Czech side Viktoria Plzen in the next round after they overcame Servette 3-1 in Geneva to prevail 3-2 on aggregate. The first leg is at Ibrox next week and while Martin and his staff will be desperate to progress in Europe's premier competition, they are now at the very least guaranteed Conference League football. Max Aarons takes the applause for the Rangers fans after they overcame Panathinaikos. | SOOC/AFP via Getty Images Martin only started working with his squad five weeks ago and while his team make mistakes, lacked cohesiveness at times and needed Butland to make a string of important saves, they showed admirable determination to overcome a wasteful Panathinaikos team. 'I've just said to the players in the dressing room, I'm so proud of them,' said Martin. 'To be five weeks into the process, from where they were to where they are is incredible. 'It's never easy away from home. A really difficult place to come. They really dug in and that's going to be important for us. Big John [Souttar] and Nasser [Djiga] were fantastic. Jack Butland's been brilliant over the two games; we need to rely on him less. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's no mean feat' for Rangers 'We spoke about the importance of the subs before the game and they did great. It's no mean feat. We've qualified for the Europa League and now we can really attack the Champions League.' Defender John Souttar added: "It was boiling out there, really difficult. They had to come out of the traps flying, we weathered the storm in the first half. We could have been better on the ball but it's a new team and that's a big win for us. "That's how you build a team, coming through those tough moments. It shows our mentality. There are going to be times things don't go our way. We've got [Jack Butland] to thank because he was excellent again.
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
Gray confident in squad's depth for domestic and continental tests
Despite their late heartbreak against Midtjylland, Hibs still have European commitments to contend Danish opponents, Midtjylland, scored a 119th-minute winner at Easter Road on Thursday night to send David Gray's side into a Conference League showdown with Partizan coach Gray is remaining calm about their squad depth, though, as they prepare to kick off their Premiership campaign against Dundee on Sunday."It's vital that you've got a strong squad," he said. " We demonstrated that a lot last season."The togetherness within it, especially when you're looking at the two ties we've just played there. We started the same side in both games. You've naturally got players that are disappointed they're not playing."A lot of players who were all massive contributors last season, the ones that were here last season, will all be disappointed if they weren't playing in this game. How do you deal with that? They deal with it by coming on and trying to affect the game in a positive way."We were so good at that last season. That collectiveness and the togetherness came from subs impacting games. I say it every week, the team that starts will never finish."Everybody needs to be ready to play. Everybody is good enough to play, which is why they're in the squad. That's why we've developed such a squad that is capable of fighting on two fronts, hopefully."
Scotsman
15 hours ago
- Scotsman
Inside Hibs' devastated dressing room as squad plots way to make sure pain doesn't linger
O'Hora admits Midtjylland goal was punch in guts - but there is no chance of letting heads hang Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... No time for feeling sorry for yourself. That was the message coming out of the Hibs camp less than an hour after a painful European defeat by Midtjylland. As well as Hibs did in competing with an accomplished and seasoned European opponent before succumbing to a Junior Brumado bicycle kick in the last minute of extra time in their Europa League qualifier, it is back to the bread and butter for David Gray's men. The domestic season kicks off on Sunday for the Hibees with a trip to Dens Park to face Dundee. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Hibs finished third in the Premiership last season, which permitted them to enjoy a night like Thursday against Midtjylland. While Hibs were defeated 3-2 on aggregate by the Danes, they remain in Europe and have a Conference League third qualifying round match against Partizan Belgrade to navigate next week. The matches come thick and fast. Hibs' Warren O'Hora looks on after the defeat by Midtjylland. | SNS Group For Hibs' Irish defender Warren O'Hora, the past two weeks have been a huge learning curve. The 25-year-old is experiencing European football for the first time in his career and wants more. Performing well in the league opens the door to that once more. 'Devastated is probably the word for it,' O'Hora said to sum up the feeling in the Hibs dressing-room after Thursday night. 'We gave it our all over two legs. The goals that they scored over two legs are of very, very high quality. A free-kick, a 20-yard strike and an overhead kick, which is very, very hard to take. 'Did they cut us open much? Did they have chances? Not as much. It didn't really feel like it on the pitch. I felt like we had chances as well, but to lose a game with two goals like that tonight is a very hard one to take.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad From Dens Park to the Balkans Belgrade may be looming but O'Hora is looking closer to home first. 'That's next week,' he said. 'The league starts on Sunday, we regroup right now. We can come out of this game with two legs with our heads held high. We went toe-to-toe 200 odd minutes with a team at a very, very high level. I don't think we have anything to be ashamed of. 'We have a lot of positives to take into Sunday. It's definitely going to be a tough game. It's the first game of the season, we want to start well. We have no time to let our heads hang. We'll come in, we'll recover, and we'll go through everything. 'We'll definitely look at things we could have done better. I'm not saying we'll just go away from the game, but we'll definitely look at things where we can improve, because that's what we've been doing through the whole start. Midtjylland celebrate their winning goal at Easter Road. | SNS Group 'Since I've come to the club, that's the way it works. After every performance, we look at what we can do better, what we did well. But like I said, we can't let it linger. The changing room we have, us boys won't let anybody feel sorry for themselves or anything like that, because it's in the past now, we can't control it. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We still have another opportunity next week [in Europe], but at the end of this season, you want to be able to do something here in Europe again. That is obviously a goal that we'll set, no doubt about it. But we need to start taking it game by game, and we'll start this Sunday.' Hibs started last season poorly, losing 3-0 to St Mirren. It set the tone for a miserable first three months of the league campaign in which they won just one match before turning things around spectacularly from December onwards and finishing third. There is no doubt the squad that Gray has assembled has character. Hibs did not feel overawed O'Hora listed the attributes that were on show against Midtjylland. 'Discipline, work-rate,' he said. 'I think we always knew that we'd probably have to give up some possession, that we'll get into areas. I think we worked our socks off. I thought we started at both legs really, really well. We got a disallowed goal today as well, and the first leg started really well. 'We can play against that level, we believed. We knew for ourselves, we believed that we can get something from this game, and we did, we brought a draw back to Easter Road, which is exactly what we needed. Obviously you want to win, but you want to bring something back, you don't want to lose the tie. I think today's performance showed that we can play against opposition at this level.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There was a special moment against the Danes in extra time when Rocky Bushiri levelled. Easter Road celebrated wildly. It ultimately didn't give Hibs what they wanted - but it was a goal to relish. O'Hora wants more of that. Easter Road was left delighted by Rocky Bushiri's strike. | SNS Group 'That's why you play football, isn't it?' he added. 'It's for moments like that. It's so nice. Rocky scored so many important goals for us last year, and he's just scored another one for us this year. That's a credit to him. He's a real goal threat in the box. 'You can see the reaction from the fans, singing his name. You see everybody celebrating, the whole bench celebrates. There's boys that didn't play, didn't start, didn't come on, whatever. 'But it's all forgotten about, that's how together this group has been since we've first come in. And we showed that today, and we're going to need that tenfold for the whole season, which no doubt we will.'
