Gray: We Deserved Nothing 

Hibernian Head Coach David Gray was dejected at full-time as we fell to an extremely disappointing 4-1 defeat to Falkirk. 

We were second best on the day, as Falkirk ran out worthy winners at the Falkirk Stadium - with Barney Stewart scoring a hat-trick before Louie Marsh added a fourth late on. 

Rocky Bushiri pulled us back into the game early in the second half with a header from a set-piece, but in the end we left with nothing after a disappointing performance. 

Speaking to Hibs TV after the match, Gray admitted that the performance was well below our standards and apologised to the Hibernian supporters. 

"I think the first thing I should do is apologise to everyone today for that result and performance, the performance more than anything.

"I think we got exactly what we deserved in the game today because every single individual battle we lost, whether that be from a technical point of view or a fighting point of view, Falkirk wanted it more. 

"I don’t want to play down Falkirk’s performance because I thought they were better than us in every single element of the game today.

"When you play for this Football Club you carry the responsibility, and the demands and expectations to be the best version of yourself.

"You need to do the basics and earn the right, and compete first and foremost. You need to play the conditions and Falkirk certainly did that better than us. To a man, I thought they were better than us all over the pitch. If that happens, you’re going to struggle to win games of football at any level, and that certainly was the case today."

We conceded twice in the first half, giving us a mountain to climb in the second period - and over the course of the 90 minutes - Gray admitted that we didn't deserve to take anything from the game.

"When we got in at half-time, I thought it could have been more because we were really poor - the game could have been out of sight. That’s as poor a performance as I’ve seen from us.

"I could stand here and come up with a few ideas to try and make it feel better, but it’s irrelevant - we’ve lost the game the way we have.

"The message at half-time was to change the shape, try to get the next goal, and have a fight for it. 

"I could say we were pushing and got exploited things late on, but Falkirk scored goals far too easily against us today and that isn't good enough."

Up next, we have back-to-back home games against Rangers and Dundee United - and Gray insists he needs to see a reaction quickly from his players.

"It’s my responsibility to pick the boys up. I had a really honest conversation in the dressing room after the game where I addressed the standards and expectations of this Football Club. I’ve been here long enough to know exactly what that is.

"The manner in which we were defeated is what’s unacceptable from my point of view. I said that to the players and I think they’ll take it on board — they should, because it should hurt.

"It should hurt because if someone’s questioning your attitude towards the game, that’s inexcusable from my point of view.

"But football has a way of giving you the opportunity to put that right, and that starts straight away on the training pitch. In the games coming up, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is. It’s about getting that reaction - I wanted that reaction after the cup, but we didn’t get it today.

"Everyone needs to look in the mirror and ask themselves, 'are we doing enough' - on the basis of today, we certainly weren't."