Gray Frustrated After Two Points Dropped

Hibernian Head Coach had mixed emotions at the full-time whistle as we were held to a dramatic 3-3 draw with Dundee at Dens Park. 

It was a whirlwind 90 minutes, with the lead changing hands three times in the game – but ultimately we had to settle for a point after a frantic encounter.

Owen Elding’s early opener was quickly cancelled out by Simon Murray’s deflected strike before Luke Graham put the hosts in front in the second half. The Hibees fought back, however, with Ante Šuto and Jamie McGrath responding with strikes of their own to swing the tie in our favour – before Cam Congreve levelled the tie with the last kick of the game.

Speaking to Hibs TV after the match, Gray praised certain aspects of the performance but was frustrated with the manner of the goals we conceded and admitted it felt like two points dropped.

“I have real mixed emotions, to be honest, after that. I think when you look at the game as a whole, I thought we started quite slow, then we scored with the first real bit of quality we showed in the game and found ourselves 1-0 up.

“The theme from that moment on was that we had moments of control, but then we gave away two really poor goals and found ourselves 2-1 down in the game.

“I think the goals we lose are incredibly poor – big mistakes in terms of the softness to them, which has been unlike us in recent weeks, so that’s something that’s really difficult.

“Then we showed great character to find ourselves 3-2 up, with the subs coming on and impacting the game again – and if we had scored the goal in the last minute to get the point, it feels very different.

“The fact that we then found ourselves ahead in the game and then they score with the last kick of the game is tough to take. 

"It’s a fantastic strike, it was right in the top corner – but, is it still avoidable from us? Yes. It probably feels like two points dropped now because of the fact that you lose a goal right in the last second. 

“That makes it tough to take. The players are obviously really low at this moment in time because of the manner of that.

“To come to a place like this, which is a difficult place to come and score three goals and not win the game, shows you where we let ourselves down.

“The biggest frustration from my point of view, and the area where we’ve let ourselves down today, is the first two goals that we conceded and we find ourselves in that position through really poor defending.”

The Hibees now have a fortnight till our next match – when we host Livingston at Easter Road – and Gray detailed what the next two weeks looked like for the group. 

“There’s no game next weekend, so we’ve got a bounce game already arranged to make sure we get minutes into players coming back from injury and also players that need it. Some players could do with a rest as well, just because they've been a little bit stretched in recent weeks.

“The only positive to us not having a competitive game next week is that there is more time on the grass. There is an opportunity to get minutes into players and have a really good training week.

“One thing we can’t do is affect what’s happened today. We have to move on and make sure that we learn from it and we’re better from it, because there is still a lot of football to be played, that’s certainly the mindset.”