By John Greechan

Copyright scotsman

Take a picture. Savour the moment. Maybe even grab a jersey as a memento. But give absolutely everything in pursuit of an improbable, if not quite impossible, dream. Hibs Women host Internazionale at Easter Road tonight, with Grant Scott’s players trailing 4-1 from the first leg of their UEFA Europa Cup first qualifying round tie. The Italians are obviously favourites to progress, despite Eilidh Adams’ goal giving the Scots some hope ahead of a 7 pm kick-off in Edinburgh. For the reigning SWPL champions, a reminder of the contrast between domestic and European demands came with their weekend win over Montrose, a 5-0 victory. Having fallen just short in their bid to reach the Champions League, they found themselves 2-0 down after 10 minutes in Milan last week – and feeling just a little shell-shocked. Experienced defender Siobhan Hunter, asked to sum up the difference between league football and facing an Inter side boasting a World Cup winner in Ivana Andres, said: “It’s huge. If you go through their team sheet, it’s quite a team sheet. Just look at the names that they’ve got in that squad. They’re massive individuals, but they also have to be a team together. “They have a togetherness. You could see that from when we even entered the building. “But the quality on the ball that they had. They didn’t force things. Perhaps, maybe in our league, you go, go, go, teams against us. They were patient, made their own movements. When the time was right, they then went. “We have to be careful with that. They’ve got a lot of experience in there. They know what they’re doing. “We have to pick our moments. We want to jump, we want to step, or we want to stay. It’s just about being really, really organised. We need to be pretty much on it from minute one to minute 90 – and maybe extra time. “I think just the way they move the ball, the speed they move the ball, they never stand still. So you’re constantly moving. You’re constantly checking your shoulder, where’s the next player. That was really difficult in that way. You didn’t see one player stand still. “That was the hardest thing. Do you step, do you stay, do you come back? We have to be really, really intelligent with our movements.” Genuinely unlucky to lose out to Fortuna Hjorring in the Champions League, Hibs secured their place in the Europa Cup by defeating Apollon Ladies in Cyprus. They’re learning from their experiences – and haven’t given up on extending this run, despite the three-goal aggregate deficite. “We know it’s only half time,” said Hunter. “Obviously, the goal difference is a bit more than we’d hoped. “Anything can happen. We have to take belief from that. But we also respect them massively. We know how good they are and how dangerous they can be. “We’re also dangerous, we’re hard to beat. We have to take that and try and go at them. “Last week, we did unsettle them quite a few times. Even if we were 3-1, 4-1 down, we still had chances. We still threatened them quite a lot. “And there’s no better feeling than playing at Easter Road. We want to go there and put on a show for our fans. Make it our home game and try and get the result that we’re looking for. “The players you come up against, I mean, you’ve got a World Cup winner. You don’t play these players every week. “It’s about enjoying it, taking it in, but also wanting to do better. It’s mixed, but it’s something that we’ve really loved doing. We want to go again next year to try and do the same. “I think it’s easy to make excuses at this level. It’s easy to turn around and say, I’m tired, I’m exhausted. But it’s a privilege. “You have to be grateful for these opportunities. There’s players out there that will never do it, never have done it. “You have to get around each other and make sure you might be tired, you might be sore. There’s no better competition in the world that you’d rather be in. “When I was in the Champions League last time, it felt completely different. It just spurs you on to try and do it again. “You just have to appreciate these moments. It’s almost like taking a picture of it, seeing what it was like and how you adapt from there. “They’re expected to win. They’re favourites. But it’s a bit like us in the league last year. We weren’t the favourites to do anything at the top of the table – but we went and done it.” Without underplaying the scale of the challenge, Hibs have to go into tonight’s game believing that they can at least make life uncomfortable for Inter. An early goal, and who knows what happens. As for the overall experience, well, Hunter didn’t get an opponent’s jersey in Italy last week. She won’t make that mistake again. “Aye, I might try to get one tomorrow night,” she said, smiling as she added: “The first thing, obviously, we want to try and get a result. If you manage to switch jerseys, then it’s a real offer. I’m not sure whether I’ll take mine, but I’ll take theirs in a hurry!”