Hibernian Ready to Battle Scorching Skopje Heat in Conference League. The Premiership men take a 2-1 lead to eastern Europe as they look to progress in the Conference League. David Gray believes Hibernian can soar in searing Skopje and will learn lessons from the calamity in Kosovo, writes Craig Swan in Skopje. The Easter Road gaffer is adamant his side won’t shut up shop in the Macedonian melting pot - with temperatures set to nudge 35 degrees on match night - defending a 2-1 first-leg against FK Shkendija. Warren O’Hora’s stoppage-time winner in Leith put Hibernian in control of the Conference League third-qualifying round tie and Gray’s team were boosted again by their subsequent weekend Premiership victory over Rangers. The Hibernian boss knows circumstances and factors will be changed. Heat and humidity will be a test for the players as will the change in tact from a hosts who need to come out and rescue their situation. But Gray is ready for it and said: “Technically, we don’t need to score over there, but you can’t go over there thinking that we're just going to go and defend a lead. Absolutely not. “It'll be a very different environment, a very different game. The way the game will be played will be very different. “We wanted to use that home advantage. We were very aware of that going into the first leg, because I asked the players: Can we take a lead over there, can we play with our intensity at home to give ourselves the advantage? “Certainly the second leg will be a different game in terms of the atmosphere, the heat, the challenge, the travel. All these things will be factors. “But also because we are winning in the tie at this moment in time, the opposition might be a little bit more more aggressive. They need to find a way to get back into the game. “So we'll be ready for that. But we certainly won't be going over there thinking we need to just sit in and hold out for 0-0. “And we know, despite winning [first leg] on the night, that our quality wasn’t where it needed to be. That’s something we spoke about. “We know we can be miles better on the ball. And we need to be better in these situations. “But I think we will be better for that experience. We need to be, to give us the best chance to get through in the tie. “Winning in Europe is difficult, as we know, but we are winning the tie right now. And we're going to do everything to get into the next round.” Hibernian were dismal in their previous away outing against Malisheva losing 2-0 in Kosovo, but Gray has learned and continued: “I think you do. I think the players learn from the experience. “It's very rare that you have so many players off it on the one day and that's something we definitely suffered on that day. “In terms of preparations and everything that went into it. I said it before and after the game in Kosovo that I wouldn't change anything we'd done from a preparation point of view because everything was done properly. It just was one of those performances. “Now you could put that down to very early in the season, players not quite up to speed, the first competitive game. All the excuses were there if we wanted them. We never used them because we knew we'd let ourselves down and we knew we'd be better. “The biggest way to fix that was to go and turn it around in the return leg, which we did. So you can certainly learn from it. “But I think you can draw on the type of game it was as well, the atmosphere