The Slow Match Report: Hibernian Women 0 Inter Milan Women 1

The impossible dream is a Hibee's birthright, but Italian artistry outdid Scottish industry in Leith as goalie Schumacher was cruelly sent off

Evening sunshine on Leith... but the fans arrived more in hope than expectation

Do footballers daydream as supporters do? Do they picture the volley soaring home while the kettle boils, imagine the shock victory when stuck in a traffic jam or see the late winner as they look out of a window? It is pleasing to think so, gratifying to believe that such flights of fancy are shared between those who wear studs and those who wear scarves.

If it is so, then for the last week many Leithers from both sides of the touchline will have been unified by the same outrageous fantasy. In their hallucinated matches goals will have been plundered by different foreheads and feet, but the outcome is shared: through each and every reverie, Hibernian Women reverse a three-goal deficit to slay visitors in black and blue.

Across that week such wilful mirages were, in some ways, a necessity. Had they all clung purely to facts and held tight to science and maths, Hibs had almost no chance. Internazionale Milano are not the breed of team who surrender 4-1 first-leg leads. The home side would be begging £50 notes from a deaf miser. To daydream was to justify going along to Easter Road, that San Siro of sunshine and grief.