Hibs boss on goal heroes, refusing to 'throw in the towel' and battling Rangers to a standstill

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Late ‘knockout’ blow fails to flatten hosts as Rocky hits back with interest

Hibs boss David Gray hailed goal scorers Martin Boyle and Rocky Bushiri for stand-out performances in a dramatic 3-3 draw with Rangers at Easter Road, as the men in green marked their first home game of 2025 in pulsating fashion. And the rookie head praised the collective for not “throwing in the towel” after suffering an apparent knock-out blow late in the contest.

Two down after 20 minutes, Hibs got themselves back on level terms through a Boyle double. When Hamza Igamane completed his hat-trick to give the visitors a 3-2 lead heading into the final quarter hour of play, the home side could easily have crumbled.

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But Bushiri, at least partly culpable for the opening goal but with an assist to his name for Boyle’s first, rose above the crowd to score with a thumping header inside the closing 10 minutes. Both teams then had chances to win a game saw Hibs extend their unbeaten run to seven games, with just one loss in their last nine.

Boyle, wearing the captain’s armband as he continues to deputise for injured skipper Joe Newell, walked off with Man of the Match honours. Having struggled through the first part of the season, with game time limited and scoring chances left untaken, the veteran forward has been on fire lately.

Explaining the upswing in form of his old team-mate, former club captain Gray hailed the livewire’s surprising leadership skills, saying: “That's something that I joke about with Boyle quite a lot. Because when he joined the club, if you'd said to me that he's going to turn out to be a Hibs captain one day, I'd have laughed at you.

“Just because of the type of character he is. He won't take offence to that, that's just how he is.

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“But he's someone that, in his performances over the years for this club, his efforts, he's matured into that role. It was something that I spoke to him about at the start of the season.

“I wanted him to really show and lead by example, because of his level of performance, but also his character he has in and around the dressing room every single day. And really show those leadership skills, which I think you could clearly see today, which is great.

“It’s about confidence with Boyle as well. He played a lot at the start of the season with an injury. Then he obviously was out once he had his operation on his injury.

“He’s been so successful at his football club in terms of his level of performance and how effective he is. When he slightly dropped that level of performance, he obviously came out of the team. But he's also dealing with his injuries and setbacks and where he was.

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“He's responded in the right way. He had to find himself not in the starting XI, which has probably not happened to him while he's been at Hibs for a while now. He had to show that character, to keep working hard, to wait for his opportunity.

“He's got back into the team and he's playing with that belief and confidence in himself again, where he terrorises his defenders and puts fear into them with his running power and pace. I think you've seen that today.”

Dissecting Bushiri’s eventful contribution to the game, Gray said: “Firstly, you need to credit Rocky for his performance. Yes, there were errors within it, of course. He wasn't the only one.

“Even myself, tactically, jumping at the wrong times or maybe not quite getting the message on. We need to look at that, because when you lose three goals, there's definitely areas to improve.

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“But I think when you then show the character from making a mistake or having to deal with that, there's no better way to do it than to go and score a goal. But then also, not just that, how he performed in other moments within the game.

“Rocky obviously scores the goal and does great in the game. But collectively, the second half, I thought the effort, the desire were clearly there from everybody.

“But again, as I've said for many weeks now, there's still a lot to work on. We know that. We're not getting carried away at all. But at least the positivity is still there, and we can keep this run going. A great game for the neutral, not so much for a coach at the side of the pitch.”

Insisting that he always believed his players could come back again after going 3-2 down, Gray said: “Yes, definitely. Because of the way the second half had gone, I think you could feel it in the stadium.

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“The crowd were right behind us, which at times, when you find yourself 2-0 down, can be difficult to back your side, especially against opposition like that. But I think I always felt it that if we could get the next goal in the game, we could turn it. And then that was huge.

“And you could feel it in the stadium, at the side of the pitch. The players responded really well to that as well.

“We were on the front foot, desperate to try and get back into the game. From a coaching point of view, when it goes 3-3, you can see them trying to go again. You're probably looking at it a little bit, saying, make sure we don't get done again on the break.

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“But by that point, the players are running on adrenaline. They're on the front foot and desperate to try and go and try and win the game, which is brilliant for where we've been to where we are now.

“To come back the way we did, especially against a team like that, Rangers are a really good side. To give them a two-goal start is very, very difficult.

“But to then get back to get 2-2 and then hit the post, had a couple of chances at the back of that. Dwight Gayle has his chance. It shows you how far the group has come.

“And then once we get pegged back again at 3-2, it would have been very, very easy to throw the towel in at that point. But I think, again, you've seen we finished the game strong - and we've done everything we could to get back into the game. So credit to everyone involved, delighted for the players.

“I've had to sit and answer a lot of questions about the character of the group, the mentality of the group. But they've answered that numerous times in recent weeks, which is great.”

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