Chris Cadden struck in extra-time as Hibernian defeated 10-man Partizan Belgrade 4-3 on aggregate after a dramatic second leg at Easter Road to set up a Conference League play-off against Legia Warsaw.
The Hibees led 2-0 from the first leg in Serbia but their advantage was wiped out by half-time after two costly mistakes from goalkeeper Jordan Smith.
Kieron Bowie’s 59th minute wonder goal put the William Hill Premiership side back in front and they looked to be in full control when the visitors had Nikola Simic sent off shortly afterwards.
But Partizan struck deep into stoppage time to go 3-1 ahead on the night and force extra-time, where Cadden landed the decisive blow of an epic third qualifying round encounter.
Manager David Gray had stressed that Hibs needed to approach the second leg as if the tie was still level, and they responded with a purposeful start in which Cadden spurned a great chance just a couple of minutes in.
The visitors soon started to settle into the game, however, and they reduced their aggregate arrears to one in the 17th minute. Milan Vukotic’s strike from just over 30 yards was well executed but Smith – diving to his left – should have done better than help it into the net after getting both his gloves to it.
The goalkeeper’s evening took a further turn for the worse in the 44th minute when he meekly allowed Partizan to level the tie.
Smith appeared to have done enough to block Jovan Milosevic’s low shot from just inside the box but it somehow squirmed under his body and trundled agonisingly over the line, prompting jeers from a shellshocked home support.
Gray resisted the temptation to substitute Smith at the interval, and the errant Englishman would have been mightily relieved when things swung back in his side’s favour in spectacular fashion in the 59th minute.
Bowie seized on a bouncing ball just over 30 yards out and unleashed an audacious lobbed effort that looped over the helpless Marko Milosevic, who was little more than a yard off his line.
The Hibees’ situation got even better four minutes later when Partizan – as was the case in the first leg – were reduced to 10 men after Simic, who had been booked at the end of the first half, was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Bowie.
Smith redeemed himself somewhat with three big saves in the closing stages but he was unable to stop substitute Andrej Kostic netting from just inside the box with the last kick of normal time.
Hibs were not to be denied, however, and Cadden followed up to ram home the rebound in the 10th minute of extra-time after Josh Mulligan had surged into the box and been denied by Milosevic.
