Hibs 'closer' to being European ready as Passlack seals Porto draw

Hibernian are "one step closer" to being ready for European football following their 1-1 draw with Porto in Portugal, says head coach David Gray. Borja Sainz gave Porto the lead shortly before half-time but Felix Passlack levelled during the second period. "I'm really pleased, and it was a really good exercise for what we set out to do," Gray told club media. "It was a really good test for the players against a very good side. It was a positive result in the end, but there are a lot of things within it where we can improve." Saturday's closed doors game at the Jorge Costa Training and Sports Development Centre gave Hibs' valuable game time before they enter the Conference League at the second qualifying round against either Vllaznia lead Malisheva. Albania's Vllaznia lead their first qualifying round tie 2-1 before Wednesday's second leg in Kosovo and the first leg of the next round takes place on 23 July, with Hibs away from home first. And Gray said: "It's been a short but beneficial camp and part of the reason we set the trip up was a test for the European campaign in terms of travelling the day before, training when we come over here, then playing the game and flying straight home because some of our players have not played in Europe before. "I'm really grateful to FC Porto for taking the game on and putting a real strong side out as well. It was a real good test for the players and we'll take a lot of confidence from that and a lot of things to work on moving forward as well. "We're definitely that one step closer to being ready for the European game." Recent signings Azeem Abdulai, Jason Kerr and Callum Wright started in a Hibs team captained by Martin Boyle. "The big thing is always about minutes in the legs and players getting fitter and stronger," said Gray. "I know we've got the home fixture next weekend against Brondby to look forward to now, where the players are all in really good condition for that one. "It's our last chance to get significant minutes into players before we go into the real stuff the following Thursday. It'll be a brilliant game. "Callum missed the first couple of games when he joined, but we got a good 45 minutes out of him today. Azeem went and played 45 minutes during the week for us, and then we pushed him to 60 minutes today. "Josh Mulligan got 90 minutes today, which he'll massively benefit from, especially when you think back to how his season ended last year. "The squad is starting to take shape."