Gray: The Players Are Confident

David Gray insisted his players are full of confidence as they go into this weekend’s William Hill Premiership game against Celtic.

The Hibees come into this game having lost one of their last 15 matches in all competitions, sitting fifth in the league table.

That defeat came against the Hoops at Celtic Park, despite a valiant performance from Gray’s men.

“We take a lot of confidence from that game, and we take confidence from the run of form we’ve been on,” admitted our Head Coach.

“That was our last defeat, and we’ve only lost one in 15. We’re in a much stronger place than what we were last time. We put in a good performance at Celtic Park, created chances, but lost the game 3-0, so we’re mindful of that.

“We need to be at the top of our game because Celtic are a really good side. We know it’ll be difficult, but the players are confident.

“We’ve got a game-plan in place, and hopefully we can execute that. We need to be at the very top of our game to win.”

There will almost be a sell-out crowd at Easter Road, and Gray has called on the fans to create a raucous atmosphere inside the stadium.

“The atmosphere is always important in these big game. As players these are the game you want to play, you get to test yourself against the best team in the league. These are players that should’ve beaten Bayern Munich, so this is a brilliant opportunity for the players to test themselves. I get to test myself against a world class coach too.

“The fans will be right behind us from the start, and we will need them to be. They will play a massive part in what we’ll be trying to do. I know they will be right behind us until the very end too.

“This is an opportunity for us, we will try to win the game, we know it’ll be tough, but the full focus is to try and get three points.”