Gray On Scottish Cup, Scott Brown & Ayr Utd

David Gray expects difficult test against Ayr United in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup.

The Hibees travel to Somerset Park on Friday evening – the first tie of the Fifth Round of the competition.

Ayr United have been flying high in the William Hill Championship, currently sitting at the top of the table, and beat Broxburn Athletic 8-0 in their Scottish Cup match.

Knowing their manager Scott Brown well, and studying ‘The Honest Men’ in preparation for this fixture, Gray is under no illusions of how challenging this match is going to be for his players.

“People talk about the magic of the cup and potential upsets, and when the draw was made a lot of people jumped to that for this tie. We need to be at our best, we know that.

“Clearly this will be a difficult game. Our players need to know and believe they can go there and win. We know we will need to be our best.

“Everyone knows Ayr are doing really well – they’re unbeaten in eight games – and there’s noise around Scott Brown being the manager.

“Look at the players they’ve got, Scott has put a good group together, I know a lot of the players myself and they will all be desperate to beat Hibs.

Our players will be ready, they’ve been prepped about what’s in-front of them, but we need to play to our levels and our ability. If we do that, we give ourselves a real chance of getting into the next round of the cup; that’s the aim.”

From his playing days, Gray has incredibly fond memories of playing in the Scottish Cup and revealed what his constant message is to the players ahead of competing in this prestigious competition.

“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a break from league football, and the Scottish Cup is something that’s so special.

“I was fortunate enough to be involved in cup runs in my career and I told the players at the start of the season that this competition is a genuine opportunity to win something.”