Shkendija boss targets fast start to overturn Hibs advantage

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Shkendija will aim to make a fast start in intense heat on Thursday, says head coach Artim Pollozhani, as the North Macedonian side look to wipe out Hibernian's first-leg advantage.

David Gray's men take a narrow 2-1 Conference League qualifying lead with them to Skopje and travel buoyed by a late victory at Rangers on Sunday.

"Hibs start the game with an advantage so we want to score early," says the Shkendija boss. "One goal and we will equalise and then try to close the game in 90 minutes.

"The psychological part will be very important. We want to be in the next round, we want to repeat the success of last season in Europe."

Shkendija qualified for the Conference League last term and made it through the league phase before being dumped out by Turkish side Samsunspor in the first knockout round.

Despite that, Pollozhani believes it is difficult to compare his side with Hibs because he considers the Scottish Premiership to be a stronger league than North Macedonia's top flight.

"The Scottish league is a high level, we can't compare it to ours," he said. "What we saw in the Hibs game against Rangers, they used different players in attack.

"The championship is a marathon but European games are about elimination. Maybe the coach believed in the players who played that game or maybe he wanted to save the ones on the bench for this game?

"What you saw is they have a lot of quality. They are very well prepared physically and tactically. So if we don't fight in every part of the pitch we won't achieve our aim."

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