Gray Praises Players’ Character, Effort and Desire

Hibernian Head Coach David Gray was full of praise for his players as we battled back to earn a point in a dramatic 3-3 draw against Rangers on Sunday afternoon.

The Hibees fought back from 2-0 down after a quickfire double from Hamza Igamane put Rangers ahead inside 20 minutes. Martin Boyle replied with two goals of his own either side of half-time to draw level before Igamane netted his hat-trick to put Rangers back ahead.

But we never gave up and Rocky Bushiri headed in an equaliser late on to claim a much-deserved point.

Speaking to Hibs TV after the game, Gray shared his thoughts on a ‘chaotic’ 90 minutes.

“I think that is a good choice of word – chaotic. From a neutral point of view, I am sure it was a really good game to watch.

“I thought we struggled in the first 20 minutes of the game, Rangers started miles better and we were a bit ‘gung-ho’ with our pressing and got that wrong.

“But the second half was much more like us. The character, desire and effort was clear for all to see. By the end of the game, we got at least what we deserved.

“We had to rely on our goalkeeper in the first 20 minutes to make some saves and keep us in the game. The game could’ve got away from us, but we made a change after 25 minutes to tweak our shape to make sure we stayed in the game and got through to half-time.

“We knew the next goal in the game was hugely important. At half-time, we reminded them how quickly this game could change.

“We got it back to 2-2 which was incredible considering the way we started the game. At that point, we created more good chances, Dwight Gayle had a header and Lewis Miller hit the post. But we were pegged back again, but we showed great desire, work-rate, and togetherness to get back level. I thought we got what we deserved from our second-half performance.”

The result extends our unbeaten run to six games – and Gray is confident his team are heading in the right direction as we enter the second half of the season.

“You can feel the momentum building at this Club. You can feel that in the stands, the fans were right with us all game and everyone can feel that.

“The fans can clearly see the effort that is going into our performances and the fight on the pitch. The spirit is there, it has been questioned a lot this season – but if you look from where we have been, to where we are now; we have given Rangers a two-goal head-start but we came back and got a point today which was the least we deserved. Massive credit goes to everyone involved.”