Gray: We're Focusing On Ourselves

Hibernian Head Coach David Gray says his side must do everything they can in the next few games to secure fourth spot in the William Hill Premiership table.

The Hibees are currently fifth in the table with four matches remaining, and while two games have passed since we last tasted success in the Premiership, the Head Coach believes that we can take some confidence from the reverse fixture at Celtic Park in February, where we recorded our first victory since 2010.

Victory over Martin O’Neill’s side at Easter Road would further aid our pursuit of European football ahead of the season’s end, and Gray says his players will be fully prepared and ready to go again on Sunday.

“It was really challenging for everybody involved at the football Club, and I mean absolutely everybody, because of the magnitude of the [Hearts] game, because of how the game ended up,” said Gray.

“Added to that, the other results elsewhere and probably compounded it a little bit for everybody. 

“But the message was pretty clear coming back in. We set a challenge and a task before the start of the season and before the start of the split of the total points we want to try and get to.

“That is still achievable. It’s a bit more difficult because we've lost the first game, but the first weekend has demonstrated that there are going to be many twists and turns.

“What we can concentrate on is ourselves. We've got four games to go. This is a massive game to go and play again at the weekend, and if we go and win the game, whatever happens between Falkirk and Motherwell, we might close the gap there again. 

“We need to try and finish fourth. That is the challenge for everybody involved, and we want to bounce back as quick as we can.

“I spoke a lot about having the belief and confidence to go to Celtic Park and try and win. 

“It hadn't been done for a long time. Thankfully, we managed to overturn that history this year, which was great, so you take the confidence from that. 

“But the message from me is this doesn't make this game any easier because we beat them before at Celtic Park. 

“It'll be a really difficult game playing against a team that is challenging for the title, which shows you the level of opposition you're playing against, but we've also demonstrated that if we put a complete performance in, we're capable of beating them.

“That's what it's going to take again to make sure we give ourselves a chance to do that.”