Joe Newell has Hibs unwavering confidence of Euro salvage job as he maps out how shocker can be wiped from memory

His stoppage time free kick was hammered home with all the anger of a player who knew his side was being humiliated.

Joe Newell accepts his 91st minute lifeline for Hibs in Andorra could turn out to be one of the most important goals of his career. But even though the strike means the Easter Road side really should be able to rescue their Conference League qualifying hopes back in Leith next week, the midfielder was in no mood to ignore the brutal reality of Thursday’s shocker.

A 2-1 defeat to a side from a league with the now fourth lowest ranking in UEFA’s co-efficient table - it had been third worst before Inter Escaldes’ scalped Hibs in the Pyrenees. The 200 furious supporters who had made the awkward journey to the tiny principality certainly wouldn’t allow their side to hide from the truth as all sorts of fury rained down on Lee Johnson and his players as they trudged off the tiny Estadi Comunal of Andorra la Vella park.

Newell, a half-time substitute, at least injected a little urgency into what had been a powderpuff performance at both ends of the park up to that point. But the 30-year-old opened up on the agony felt in the dressing room and admits lessons have to be learned and quickly from a 90 minutes he branded “unacceptable” and “embarrassing”.

Newell said: “We were fully prepared. We gave them the respect that they deserved. We knew how they were going to play and what it would mean to them. We knew the kind of antics they’d get up to. This is all part of playing these European games, it’s a different kind of test. We knew their threats so there was no surprise there. It was just a bad performance.

“The tempo, urgency, we started sluggish and that’s what they like. I’ve not seen the first goal back but it’s