Hibs gaffer Gray believes players can silence 'soft' slurs with season-changing derby win

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Flaky. Unreliable. Prone to falling part, even. Worst of all … soft. That last slur upon the reputation of any professional footballer has managed to stick to a series of Hibs teams down the years. It comes as no surprise to David Gray, then, to hear it being hurled in his general direction in derby week.

Asked if there was a soft centre to a Hibs side guilty of throwing away winning positions after impressive performances, Gray – speaking to Edinburgh Derby rights holders Sky Sports – declared: “It’s something that, ever since I’ve been at this football club, it gets mentioned. And it always rears its head after a defeat.

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“One thing I can’t stand here and do is make an excuse for what has happened in the last two games. Because, at the end of the day, when we do make mistakes, we are being punished – and there are a lot of variables within that.

“But the reality is we need to be stronger in these moments. We know that.

“It is a new group. But at the same time, as players, coaches and everybody involved, we have to stick together and work as hard as we can to rectify that.”

Whether that’s a problem with concentration and mentality, as much as footballing ability, remains open to question, Gray explaining: “It’s a bit of everything, really. Because then you get momentum going against you.

“I think it’s more about doing everything you possibly can to double down. If your team-mate makes a mistake, for example, can you pull your team-mate out of a hole? We need to rally together in these moments of adversity.”

Gray’s appointment as successor to Nick Montgomery in the summer effectively helped Hibs shortcut a lot of the teething problems they might have suffered by appointing someone with limited knowledge of the club. Nothing about the current situation is coming as a surprise to the ‘new’ gaffer, at least.

“It’s been tough, of course it has,” he said. “I’m not going to shy away from that.

“It’s a challenge I knew was always going to be there at the start of the season, when I took the job. I’ve been at the club long enough to understand the pressures, the expectations, the demands.

“It’s hugely frustrating to lose the game. And then where we find ourselves in the league is even more frustrating.  We understand the situation we’re in.”

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All of that could change, at least in the short term, by beating Hearts on Thursday. A point not lost on the gaffer.

“The flip side to that is the opportunity to go again at home, against your local rivals, to try to kick start your season,” he said, adding: “It’s an opportunity for the boys.

“These games are always very intriguing. They’re the games that every supporter looks for.

“With us both being down where we are in the league at the moment, we both know – well we know, concentrating just on ourselves – that we’re not where we need to be.

“But the full focus is on giving ourselves the opportunity to kick start the season.

“They’ve got a game before they play us, so we’ll have a chance to see them in that game as well. But the full focus is on us, how we can improve.”