Is it too soon to judge Hibs despite Malisheva defeat?

Hibernian's European disappointment will be "instantly forgotten about" if they manage to get a big result when they welcome Malisheva to Easter Road next week. David Gray's side were beaten 2-0 in Kosovo on Thursday afternoon in the first leg of the Conference League second qualifying round, in one of the Edinburgh club's worst ever results. But former Celtic and Motherwell striker Cillian Sheridan is urging fans to wait until the conclusion of next week's game in Leith before making any judgements about Gray and the season ahead. "I've been going back in my head to where I think you have to judge them at the end of the two games," he told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast . "If you go back to Brendan Rodgers' first game at Celtic, he's lost to Lincoln Red Imps [in Champions League qualifying] and then goes on and has one of Celtic's best seasons. "Yes, they're due criticism for losing a game like that, but I think overall you have to wait and fully judge them at the end of the tie. Because Hibs could come home and win four or five nil, and then that result is instantly forgotten about." Sheridan, who played in Cyprus with Apoel Nicosia and Omonia Nicosia, recalls playing European games in the afternoons in the height of summer, and how difficult it made the conditions. "Malisheva will have wanted to make the conditions as tough as they could for Hibs," he added. "You used to have it a few years ago in Cyprus when if you get drawn with a Scandinavian team or something like that, the clubs would always try and have the games a little bit earlier in the day for the heat and take advantage of it."