Aberdeen and Hibs start European campaign with wins

Aberdeen 5-1 BK Hacken

Aberdeen turned on the style to thump Hacken 5-1 and put themselves in a commanding position ahead of next week’s second leg.

The Dons took the lead 28 minutes in when Calvin Ramsay hit a corner to the back post that Andy Considine headed in.

They got the chance to add to their lead when Ryan Hedges was brought down by Leo Bengtsson in the box and Lewis Ferguson scored the resulting penalty.

Aberdeen looked to be cruising when Ferguson cracked in a long range shot to make it 3-0 early in the second half but Hacken served a reminder of their danger when Alexander Jeremejeff curled a shot past Joe Lewis after 59 minutes.

The hosts restored their three-goal cushion with six minutes left when substitute Jack McKenzie hit the ball towards goal and summer signing Christian Ramirez slid the ball in to get his first goal for the club.

Connor McLennan put the icing on the cake injury time when the substitute turned his man in the box to fire in the fifth.

Hibernian 3-0 Santa Coloma

Hibernian put three past their Andorran opposition at Easter Road in a game that was packed with incident as three players were sent off and the hosts took a comfortable lead from the first leg.

Hibs took the lead after just 14 minutes when Santa Coloma goalkeeper Ramos Prada clattered into Kevin Nisbet and referee Vilhjalmur Thorarinsson pointed to the spot. Martin Boyle took responsibility for the penalty and slammed his shot into the net.

The comfort was short-lived as Hibs were reduced to ten men just before the half hour mark. Joe Newell slid in to block a clearance and though there appeared to be no contact with the opposition player, Thorarinsson produced a red card, to Newell’s astonishment.

Early in the second half the hosts doubled their lead. Boyle raced to the edge of the box and tried his luck with a firmly hit shot that took a deflection and went into the bottom corner of the net.

After 66 minutes the numbers were evened up when Hamza Bouharma was sent off for pulling down Boyle, then shortly after the visitors were down to nine. Robert Ramos was shown a second yellow card for his challenge on Nisbet.

Hibs, and Nisbet, took advantage when the striker scored his side’s third with nine minutes to go.