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Hibs penalty hero in 'not a clue' Rangers Ibrox VAR admission as ace claims: 'I thought we'd given one away!' Josh Campbell has played in all three away wins over Rangers, helping Hibs to a 151-year first As confusion took grip on 50,000-plus punters wondering what on earth VAR was about to inflict on everyone at Ibrox yesterday, even the players had no idea what to expect. As Hibs goal hero Josh Campbell readily admits. The Easter Road stalwart, who kept his cool to score from the spot after Rangers defender Vanja Dragojevic was belatedly pinged for manhandling Josh Kerr at a Hibs corner, revealed: “Not a clue. I thought we had given a penalty away, if I'm honest with you! Jason Kerr fouled at corner by Rangers defender “Then I was told that I was taking it and I was like: ‘Alright, well, it must be our penalty.’ So, no, called upon to take the penalty - and put it to the back of the net.” Once the confusion and anger had subsided, Campbell never looked like missing, his goal setting Hibs on the way to a historic 2-1 victory. Never before, in the 151-year history of Hibernian FC, have they secured wins at Ibrox in three consecutive seasons. Campbell, who revealed some of the pain he’s gone through in battling back from injury to earn his first minutes of the new season as a starter in yesterday’s triumph, has played an integral role in all three of those victories. Which may explain why he looked so at ease when cast as potential hero yesterday. Asked whether the lengthy delay before he could take the penalty had added pressure to his role as taker, the 26-year-old said: “Yeah, it does. But as I said, I had no idea whose penalty it was when he was looking at the screen until it was actually given to us. So, it was alright.” Injury woes over for midfielder On a personal level, simply being back on the pitch – never mind playing a key role in the starting XI – felt like a victory for Campbell, who could be seen trudging around the outside of the pitch alongside new signing Callum Wright during pre-season, the pair comparing notes on toe injuries. Which was followed, in the case of Campbell, by a hamstring problem. “Yeah, it was frustrating, honestly,” he said, adding: “I can't recommend getting toe surgery. It's awful. It was a pain in the arse for me over summer and then I came back, tried to get through it and I just couldn't do it. “So I had to get surgery on the toe. Then I came back from that and the hamstring went a little bit, but all fit now and ready to kick on. “Someone stood on my toe and a bit of an ingrown toenail and it just led to one thing and another and it just got worse and worse. I had repeated surgeries last year to try and fix it, but I had to just get it completely fixed now.” Pressed on exactly how the initial injury had been sustained, a grinning/wincing Campbell admitted that team-mate Rocky Bushiri – probably the last person anyone would want trodding on their feet – who had caused the issue, saying: “Believe it or not, it was actually Rocky who stood on my toe. So it was quite sore that day that he done it! But no, as I said, it's all fixed now and looking to kick on. “Rangers was my first minutes since coming back from the off-season. I had that toe niggle, had a bit of surgery on that and I had a little bit of a hamstring. So, those were my first minutes. “I think it was obvious because I was absolutely blowing out my arse coming to the end! But no, I just need to gather up more minutes and minutes and build on it.” Campbell was happy enough to leave the fray with his team a goal ahead after 56 minutes. The fact that Wright came on in his place, the Englishman going onto score the injury-time winner, was a bonus. “Yeah, brilliant,” said the former Hibs Academy kid. “He had a little bit of a niggle as well when he first came in with me, so we've grew a little relationship together. “Lovely lad and he was quality on Thursday night when he came on - and he showed that again at Ibrox. First and foremost, he's a good boy, which is what we look for for players in this club - and he's got the quality to show on the pitch as he did today.” Collectively, winning at Ibrox – again – can only be of benefit to Hibs as they head to Skopje on a mission to secure progress to the UEFA Conference League play-offs. Leading 2-1 from the first leg of their third qualifying round tie against KF Shkendija, David Gray’s men know they’ll have to dig deep if they’re to become the first Hibs side in history to reach the league/group stages of any European competition. “Yeah, that's massive,” said Campbell. “There's a lot of tired boys out there, a couple missing the Rangers game. But winning gives us big confidence for us for Thursday. “That's what the aim is for this club, is to be in European football. We want to get to the group stages because we've never been there before. This is what you work hard for the season before. “You want to play Thursday, Sunday constantly. And as I said, there's no better game than Thursday night for us.”