HIBERNIANS OF MALTA have this week done what tonight’s opponents did six years ago, and changed manager midway through a European tie. 

Stephen Bradley was first put in charge of Shamrock Rovers when Pat Fenlon was dismissed after the first leg of a Europa League qualifier against Rovaniemi in 2016, and Hibernians have this week appointed a new boss, Andrea Pisanu, after the man who took charge of last week’s Champions League first round qualifier at Tallaght, Stefano Sanderra, left to take a job coaching the Lazio U19s.

For Rovers, the managerial change adds a little bit of the unknown to tonight’s return leg in Malta, but they carry with them a commanding 3-0 first leg lead. Bradley, however, isn’t expecting the new man to make wholesale changes. 

“You can’t change too much to be honest because it’s such a short turnaround”, said Bradley. “There’s been a lot of changes in last few days. I’m sure he’ll put his own stamp on it but it takes time to happen. I don’t think we’ll see a massive change to what we saw during the second half in Tallaght.They’ll be more of a threat and play the game with a different mentality. That’s what we’ve got to be ready for. In terms of their overall style and philosophy, he can’t change that. I think they’ll play similar second half to Tallaght.

“We had a look at his last job to get a feel for how he likes to play and the type of formations. They played very similar to Hibs, I’d imagine it will be pretty much the same. From what they showed in the second half in Tallaght, I feel they’ll play direct and aggressively, trying to hurt us in transition. We’ve got to be ready for that.”

Though Rovers have a firm grip on the tie, Bradley warned against complacency, accentuating the chances his side conceded in the home leg a week ago. 

“We obviously looked back at the game a number of times and we aren’t happy with the chances we gave up in the second half. On another night they could have pulled one or two back, so we have to make sure we don’t give them those opportunities in tomorrow’s game. Our aim is to go and win the game but we have to respect them and not give up the chances we gave up in Tallaght.

“We know we can improve on Tuesday night in Tallaght so we just focus on us, I don’t think we can look back at what other teams have done in the past, it’s about us and having that fear that you can lose games. Having that fear of losing gives you that little edge that you need and makes you respect the game that little more. What they showed in the second half means we have to respect them and be ready to be better than we were in Tallaght.”

There are a couple of other factors that may complicate the night for Rovers – the humid heat, expected to be around 31 degrees at kick-off time – and the astro turf pitch. 

“There will be no excuses”, said Bradley. “We’re here to a job. Whether the pitch is dry, wet, grass or Astro, it doesn’t matter. We’re here to win the game and there’ll be no excuses either way.” 

“I can only imagine it will be very similar to what it’s like playing up in Dundalk or in Derry, one of those types of surfaces”, said midfielder Chris McCann. “It’s always tricky, especially with the heat, it doesn’t play as normally as a grass pitch would. But it’s going to be the same for both teams. We are going to have to go out there, do what we are good at and just be mindful that it’s going to be a totally different game. They are probably going to throw a lot at us, they will probably set up differently in terms of how they might press us, looking back at the first game. But we have just got to focus on ourselves and what we are good at doing, and hopefully we will come out on the right end of the result.”

Rovers have been given a significant boost as Jack Byrne and Graham Burke are fit to play, both of whom missed the first leg. Their return is timely, to re-stock an attack that has recently lost Danny Mandroiu to Lincoln City. 

Elsewhere, Bradley says Rovers are close to tying Irish underage international Justin Ferizaj down to a professional contact, having handed him a debut in the closing stages of the first leg. 

Progress tonight would net Rovers another significant windfall, but it would also set them up perfectly for a tilt at group stage football. Their likely opponents in the next round of the Champions League are Ludogorets of Bulgaria – who lead their tie 2-0 from the first leg – and from there, a single two-legged win from three ties would guarantee a spot in the Conference League group stages. 

Tonight’s game is live on RTE News Now from 6.55pm.