HIBERNIANS 2
Farrugia 62, Jorge 90
PSV EINDHOVEN 1
Vloet 9
Hibernians beat Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven in a friendly match this evening at the Hibs stadium.
Substitute Jorge Silva scored the winning goal, a screamer in the final minute.
PSV are in Malta on a pre-season training camp. Although their performance left much to be desired, they led at half time with Rai Vloet having scored in the ninth minute.
But Hibs produced a stunning second-half comeback to erase the goal and then turn the tables on the visitors.
Phillip Cocu, the PSV coach left skipper Luuk de Jong, goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet and defender Hector Moreno on the bench and striker Davy Propper was not on the list.
That is not to say that Cocu named an under-strength formation, what with the likes of Jeffrey Bruma, Jurgen Locadia, Jorrit Hendrix, Maxime Lestienne and Nicolas Isimat-Mirin all in PSV’s initial formation.
Branko Nisevic, the Hibernians coach had Gilmar positioned at the front of Hibs’ 4-2-3-1 formation ahead of the advanced trio of Jurgen Degabriele, Andrew Cohen and Joseph Mbong.
The Dutch side took the lead in bizarre circumstances. Rui da Garcia Gomes’s attempted clearance hit Rai Vloet and the ball flew inside the net for a strange goal.
As expected, Cocu virtually changed his entire line-up at the start of the second half, bringing in goalkeeper Zoet, Stjin Schaars and Steven Bergwijn.
But Nisevic limited his substitution to just two with Jorge Silva and Jean Paul Farrugia taking the place of Degabriele and Mbong respectively.
Past the hour mark, Hibs equalised. Perserverance on Jackson Lima’s part led to the goal as the Brazilian stole possession from Jordi de Wijs and quickly provided a perfect service to Farrugia who kept his nerves in check to hit past Zoet for the joy of his supporters.
Two minutes from time, PSV came close to restoring their lead but Ramon Lundqvist’s header, set up by Florian Jozefzoon was blocked on the line by Andrei Agius.
The winning goal sparked wild celebrations on the Hibs stand. Farrugia was the provider with an excellent cross from the right towards the centre of midfield where Jorge took one touch before arrowing his past Pasveer who remained rooted to his spot.