Revealed: What Hibs boss thinks of 'crisis' talk as Hearts cross city for first derby of season

Embattled Hibs boss David Gray insists his team are not in a “crisis” despite plummeting to the foot of the Scottish Premiership table ahead of the first Edinburgh Derby of the season. And he’s urged his players to keep their heads amid the “chaos” of Sunday’s high noon clash at Easter Road.

Gray, who admits he’s found the turmoil of recent weeks anything but enjoyable, saw his team slip into the automatic relegation spot as they threw away a 2-1 lead by conceding two injury-time goals in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Dundee United at Tannadice. They trail their city rivals by a single goal in the standings, meaning they can catapult themselves back ahead of the Jambos with a home win over Neil Critchley’s side.

And rookie head coach Gray, asked to sum up the current situation, declared: “It’s not a crisis. I think it needs to be better. I think we all know that. As I've said to the players, we're not looking for excuses at all.

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“We're not using the fact that we went down to 10 men in the last two games as an excuse for not getting results in the last two. Does it play a factor? Of course it does. I think momentum in games, there's all sorts of things that go that way against you at times.

“But we also know what's in the group. We also know how good we can be when we do get it right. I've still got that firm belief in everybody involved that we will turn it around.

“Yeah, I’m very confident. And I think that's because of the hard work we're doing. We're being judged on results, which is rightly so, that's what you get paid to do. 

“You don't just get paid to play football; I don't just get paid to coach the team. I get paid to win games of football. That is the ultimate challenge that faces us as players and staff. We all know that, and we all need to be doing better to make sure that we can get that.”

Asked whether he had found recent weeks especially stressful, Gray conceded: “I wouldn't say they've been enjoyable, that's for sure. I'm not enjoying it at all, the frustration you get during the game - but then I think it's about being measured through it all.

“I'll always judge myself, firstly. Was the information I gave right? Decisions I made during the game on reflection? And then the flip side to that straight away, first day back into work, is how can you make the players better again? 

“So working on areas we need to improve, individual meetings, individual group meetings, all these things to try and get to where we need to get to. Because as I've said before, I've got a very good squad here, lacking a wee bit of confidence at times maybe in certain things, but at the same time in a good place in terms of fitness levels, in a good place in terms of togetherness within the group, it's about now relaying that onto the pitch and making sure we turn the performances into results.”

Hearts travel across the city sitting second bottom in Scotland’s top flight. Yet Gray believes both teams being stuck at the wrong end of the table won’t do much to dull passions on Sunday.

“You can't forget the league position,” he admitted, adding: “It's something we're focusing fully on ourselves. But this is a great opportunity to change that.

“They're special games to play in, regardless of who's where in the league. You could be top of the league versus bottom of the league.

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“It doesn't make it any easier or any more unfavourable to another team. They’ve been different divisions before. I know what it means to everybody involved.

“You need to be calm in the chaos, definitely. You can't allow your emotions to get the better of you or be reckless within the game.

“The one thing I've always thought going into these games is you need to believe you can win. his is why you come and play. These are the games that, when you do get a positive result, you will remember forever.

“I'll never forget the derby games that I played in. That's the message to the players. You need to look forward to it and realise the challenge. Because it is a challenge, but it's one they should all look forward to.

“It's the opportunity to change things. Football has very fine margins, that's what we're experiencing at the moment, and a lot of that can be flipped the other way. We know we need to be better, and this is an opportunity to try and change that.”