This was the kind of match which takes years off managers and gives supporters flashbacks in the dark of night.
In a commanding position before a ball was kicked, Hibs almost conspired to throw away everything they’d achieved in Belgrade last week.
Just when it looked like those present would witness another painful capitulation, Kieron Bowie produced something which generations yet to be born will one day hear of.
To say the striker’s dipping strike from 30 yards on the hour mark was a thing of wonder would scarcely do it justice.
It came just as his side most needed it. It changed the entire complexion of a game that was threatening to go badly wrong for David Gray’s side. And it should have been enough.
Hibernian’s Kieron Bowie celebrates scoring a wonder goal to put Hibs ahead in the tie
Partizan’s Andrej Kostic scored at the death to send the match into extra time
Jordan Smith made two blunders to gift Partizan goals but made amends later on
Seemingly over the line on aggregate, they were within seconds of progressing to the play-off round until Andrej Kostic dramatically levelled.
On a night of extraordinary drama, though, they came again in extra-time, scoring through Chris Cadden to secure a clash with Legia Warsaw.
How they got there was at times hard to fathom. But get there, they did.
It was not a night that Jordan Smith Will recall with any fondness. Culpable as Milan Vukotic halved the aggregate score with a speculative strike from distance, the keeper made a hash of trying to prevent Jovan Milosevic’s weak shot from crossing the line a half-time loomed.
Credit is due to the keeper, however, for making some important saves thereafter.
Gray had ordered his players to play with a freedom, ignoring the result from the first leg. Easier said than one, you suspect.
The issue could have been all but settled just three minutes in. Martin Boyle gathered on the right and eliminated Mario Jurcevic with a twist of his hips.
His cross found Chris Cadden. The wing-back had the whole target to aim at yet fired straight at the keeper.
While there was plenty of invention going forward as the game settled, the men in green looked nervous.
Jack Iredale thinned a routine pass rom the box. Jovan Milosevic looked set the drive home the opener. Somehow Rocky Bushiri made up the ground and held off the striker until the cavalry arrived.
The game was ridiculously open. Partizan were in a rush to strike early and change the whole mood of the evening. On 17 minutes, their time came.
Nikola Simic took the ball on the half turn and played in Vukotic. The midfielder looked far too far from goal to ask a question of Smith but his strike from 27 yards arrowed towards goal.
The keeper got a hand to the ball and should comfortably have pushed it away to safety. The sight of it hitting the netting stunned the home supporters.
It took a whole for Hibs to rally. Bowie gathered Boyle’s cross but couldn’t get enough power on his strike from the edge of the box to work the keeper.
A patient build-up ended with Dylan Levitt floating a cross to the far post.. Bushiri’s header flashed a foot wide.
Too many of Hibs’ entries into the opposing box were of the hit-and-hope variety. Too fee of Gray’s players were pausing for breath and making the right decisions.
Whenever Partizan broke up the park, they did so in numbers. The efforts of the home side to stop them in the tracks were woefully inadequate.
A concerning picture got a whole lot worse a minute from the break.
Jurcevic got in behind Chris Cadden down the left and cut the ball back to Milosevic. The strike lacked any real purchase. Smith seemed to have the ball in his grasp only for it to squirm through his arms and over the line.
It was a horrific error by the Englishman. He must have felt like the loneliest man in the world as he made his way back up the tunnel.
As well as Partizan had played up to that point, Gray’s men had made it all too easy for them.
Initially, it was not much better after the turnaround. Heavy touches. Bad decisions. Not enough options off the ball.
It needed something special to happen. And as the hour mark came up, that’s what we witnessed.
Bowie did a decent job of rolling his marker as they contested a long ball. He was fully 30 yards from goal? Too far to try his luck, surely? What did we know.
From the minute his left foot strike soared onto the air, the keeper was worried. It fell from the night sky and landed perfectly in the top corner. It was an astonishing goal. The place erupted. The was about to get a whole lot better for the Scots.
Already on a booking for dissent, Simic was sent packing for going through the back of Bowie. The balance of the tie had shifted dramatically.
Off the bench, Nicky Cadden thought he’d dragged his side level on the night until the flag went up.
Credit to Smith where it’s due. As the visitors pushed for the goal to take the game to extra-time, he denied Milosevic first with his knee than with his fingertips.
As we went into injury time, he dived full length to deny Yanis Karabelyov.
Still Partizan came. And in the final minute of injury time, there was a dagger to the heart.
A surge down the fight saw the ball eventually centred by Karabelyov. Substitute Andrej Kostic was most alive to the situation and hammered the ball high into the net. We were going the distance.
With the 10-man Serbs sitting in and looking for penalties, Hibs were able to find something.
With 10 minutes of the first period gone, Josh Mulligan charged in from the left and saw his shot spilled by Marko Milosevic. Cadden was alert and thumped the ball high on to the net.
Bowie was then inches away from claiming his second with a shot on the turn with Smith again denying Milosevic at the other end.
The second period saw Nicky Cadden miss with the goal gaping while Kostic hit the post. By the skin of their teeth, Hibs got there.
