Gray: No Excuses After Dundee United Defeat
Hibernian FC Head Coach David Gray said there are ‘no excuses’ after we fell to an agonising 3-2 defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice.
In what was a frantic encounter, we came from behind to lead 2-1 after goals from Warren O’Hora and Dwight Gayle cancelled out an own goal in the first half.
We looked in prime position to win the game but after we were reduced to 10-men, we conceded two goals in stoppage time to condemn us to defeat.
Speaking to Hibs TV after the match, Gray shared his frustrations on the result.
“Look, I could stand here and come up with 1000 excuses about how the game went. I could talk about how it was a great reaction to come back from 1-0 down, but the thing is we’ve been in this movie before – we’ve gone down to 10-men and when we have been seriously asked questions, we’ve failed to come up with the answers again.
“It is really tough to take, for the amount of work we’ve put into it. It’s even harder when it’s an individual error or a decision at a key time.
“When you’re down there and things are going against you - it’s fine margins and things are going against us at the moment. But I am not going to stand here and make excuses. Performances are one thing, but results are the most important and where we are isn’t good enough.”
Joe Newell was shown a second yellow with five minutes of normal time remaining and with the hosts throwing everything forward – we couldn’t keep them out.
“The first yellow card is soft, and I don’t think there is any contact at all,” Gray continued.
“But, as I have said before - when you are a yellow card, you run the risk when you go into a 50:50 and tackle like that. The frustration comes from the fact the referee didn’t even give a foul initially. But that’s an excuse - there is still time after that, we were still leading in the game and we need to be stronger in these moments.
“When you’re asked to defend, and you’re under the cosh, and you need to defend your box like your life depends on it - we didn’t do that and we came up short again.
“I am well aware of the fact that this is not good enough. I can stand and point the fingers or make excuses but this is my responsibility - whatever happens I am responsible for results at this Football Club, and I know we are massively underachieving.
“We need to stick together, work as hard as we can; and make sure I get it right as quickly as possible.”