Joe Newell hails 'ridiculous' Hibs support against Aston Villa as Birmingham City fan can't resist cheeky dig

Joe Newell has hailed the 'ridiculous' Hibs support away to Aston Villa and joked that the hosts got lucky.

Just over 2000 Hibees made the trip to Birmingham for the second leg of their Europa Conference League playoff round second leg.That was despite already being 5-0 down after a battering from the Villains in Leith. The Easter Road club set up the clash with the Premier League outfit by beating FC Inter Club d'Escaldes from Andorra in the first leg, but only after an embarrassing 2-1 first leg defeat was turned around with a 6-1 home victory.

Swiss side Luzern were expected to triumph in the second qualifying round, but Lee Johnson managed to produce an impressive display to record a 3-1 first leg win. That was followed up with a 2-2 draw in Switzerland which meant a reunion with Scottish Cup winning hero John McGinn, Hibs having been paired with Unai Emery's team before they had taken care of Luzern.

Villa made light work of their Scottish Premiership opponents and ran out 8-0 aggregate winners in the end. But boyhood Birmingham City fan newell couldn't resists a tongue-in-cheek dig as he reflected on the European campaign.

He tweeted: "The European dream is over...couple of great nights over the last few weeks but in the end I'd say Villa got lucky. Hibs fans last night was ridiculous, the best away end I've ever seen. Some party!"

A new manager is top of the agenda for Hibs after sacking Johnson between the first and second legs. David Gray took charge for the trip south and will be in the dugout for Sunday;s clash with Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

Australia boss Graham Arnold revealed that he'd turned down the chance to make the move to the Scottish capital. Record Sport reported that St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson