Two goals in as many games for Borderer Lewis Gillie as Hibs’ academy side win in Europe and youth cup
Borderer Lewis Gillie has issued a warning to his Hibernian under-19 teammates that they’ve still got a job to do if they’re to progress in this football season’s Uefa Youth League despite being 4-0 up ahead of a second-round second leg in Kosovo next week.
The Galashiels 17-year-old scored the last of the Edinburgh academy side’s four goals at home to FC 2 Korriku at the capital’s Easter Road Stadium last Wednesday in front of a crowd of 1,411.
That 84th-minute back-post header past visiting goalkeeper Ismaji Hasimi, set up by a free-kick taken by Jamie McMurdo – currently on loan to Gala Fairydean Rovers, along with Owen Calder, as part of a co-operation deal – followed earlier efforts from Rudi Molotnikov on 11 minutes, McMurdo on 67 and Luke Davidson on 73.
Gillie and fellow defender Calder, 18, played for the full 90-minutes-plus for head coach Darren McGregor’s youngsters, with winger McMurdo, also 18, making way for Arran McSporran five minutes ahead of full-time.
Next Wednesday’s second leg at at the Zahir Pajaziti Stadium in Podujeve kicks off at noon and Gillie, though glad to be making that near-2,000-mile journey with a four-goal lead under their belts, is well aware that the job’s only half done until the final whistle blows come November 5.
“We’re only halfway there,” the teenager, with Hibs since 2018, told his club’s Facebook page. “The job isn’t finished.
“Goals change games, so we just need to finish the job really.”
Looking back on last week’s win, the Fairydean academy product said: “I’m buzzing, to be honest.
“A 4-0 win and a goal, you can’t ask for much more from a first leg. It’s amazing really.
“The first ten to 15 minutes we felt a little shaky because we didn’t know much about them or judge what formation they were going to play, but we grew in confidence and the last 75 minutes were just unreal.
“You couldn’t ask for a much better performance and we saw the game out as well, keeping a clean sheet.”
Reflecting on his goal, he added: “I was telling the boys the whole game to stick the ball at the back post and I’d get on the end of it, and finally they did.
“I was buzzing with the goal. It was just amazing to score.
“My mates and my family don’t get out to see me a lot, so scoring at Easter Road in front of them and 1,500 fans is very good.
“People were asking me what my celebration was all about, but I’d said before the game, if I scored, I’m belly-sliding, so I had to do it – I had to keep my word.”
Gillie was back among the goals on Saturday, scoring a close-range shot on 56 minutes for Hibs’ under-18s during a 6-0 third-round Scottish Youth Cup victory at home to Inverurie Loco Works.
Adam Buckley, Reiss Downie, Logan Jimenez and Alisdair Burns were also on the scoresheet, with an own goal by Inverurie defender Yahya Rahman going their way too.