Hibs 'history' pre-match message revealed as David Gray addresses Josh Mulligan transfer rumour
Injury-time winner from Callum Wright amid reports of Italian interest in Mulligan
David Gray revealed how he’d challenged his team to make history by becoming the first Hibs side EVER to record away wins over Rangers in three consecutive seasons.
The Easter Road gaffer, who addressed reports of Italian interest in Josh Mulligan, also insisted referee Don Robertson was spot on to award the hotly-disputed early penalty that put his team on the way to a 2-1 triumph at Ibrox this afternoon. Hibs survived the loss of an unlucky late equaliser to score a dramatic injury-time winner, emulating their Govan triumphs from each of the last two campaigns – and doing something that none of their predecessors had managed in 151 years.
Familiar scenes of celebration for away fans
Explaining how he’d deliberately raised the prospect of achieving the unprecedented his pre-match talk, Gray said: “It's something I've constantly tried to do in the last three seasons. It's the third season now.
“A lot of people speak about history and usually it's because something's not been done for a very long time and it's a negative thing. I've always tried to challenge the group to recreate our own history. That's certainly something I spoke about today.
“I actually asked the question of the group: ‘When do you think the last time it's been done?’ Three times. And nobody knew the answer clearly. But it's because it's never been done before.
“It shows you how good an achievement it is, how difficult a place this is to come, but also the quality we've got within the group that we're able to go and do that. At times, we had to ride our luck, we had to go under immense pressure.
“But the belief was in there for the players and they should be really pleased with that. I'm delighted for them because they deserve it.
“The biggest moment in the game for me is the test of character that came when Rangers equalised. The goal when it comes, it comes from an own goal, which is tough to take. But, as I say, we were under immense pressure at that point.
“From then, though, it would have been really easy to go and lose the game and I think that's where all the desire, all the pressure and the momentum that Rangers had put on us at that point.
“To go and try and win the game, it would have been easy to lose it with 50,000 people, the momentum they had behind them. But we break away and then the character of the players to stand up to that. As we break away, I've got four or five players sprinting forward.
“My right back's sprinting forward. I won't tell you what I was shouting at him when he was running forward!
“But he managed to get forward and Callum Wright takes his goal incredibly well. It's a brilliant feeling, a brilliant result and one the players can be proud of because that's the first time ever that in three consecutive seasons, a Hibs team has come here and won.
“It's recreating history in a positive way as well. So they can be really proud of that.”
Penalty decision addressed
Hibs took the lead via Josh Campbell from the penalty spot after just 11 minutes, despite protests over the decision to penalise Vanja Dragojevic for his foul on Jason Kerr at a corner kick. Miguel Chaiwa’s unlucky own goal looked to set up the home side for a late rally five minutes from time – but Wright capped a breakaway to send the away fans wild with 92 minutes on the clock.
Addressing the penalty call, Gray revealed: “The referees have came in and spoke to us about the penalty decision, about that sort of situation because that does happen quite a bit at corners. There's a lot of contact, a lot of people fully focused on the player rather than the ball.
“At the time I didn't think much of it, but the goalie coach actually said straight away: ‘I think that could be a penalty. Then they broke away, then you kind of forget about it and then they'll stop the game.
“But seeing it back now, I think the officials and the VAR have got no option but to give it. They put them in a position that they have to give it because it's not looking at the ball, it's impeding the player, it's trying to head the ball and the ball lands exactly in that area, that's the big issue there. So, left the referee no choice but to give the penalty, so I think it's the right decision.”
Hailing his team for showing belief to grind out the win, and looking ahead to Thursday night’s return to UEFA Conference League action, with Hibs heading to North Macedonia to defend a 2-1 first-leg lead against KF Shendija, Gray added: “I actually feel the fans now believe coming along that we can go and get a result at times.
“It's a difficult place to come, as we know. But you need to believe it. If you don't believe in yourself or you don't believe as a group you're capable of coming to places like this, then you're wasting your time in the first place.
“Think back to even last season winning at Celtic Park as well, hadn't been done for 20-odd years. We know there's big performances in there.
“The players can take all the confidence from the result today and winning in Europe. We won in Europe on Thursday night. We won on the Thursday before it.
“It's going to take a massive performance again this Thursday, but this is what you want to be involved in as players.”
Asked if there had been contact over Mulligan from Genoa, Gray said: “Not that I'm aware of, not at all. If people are talking about us, it’s because you're doing good things and you're progressing well.
“Josh was one of 11, 14 players we got on the pitch that were very, very good today and that's the most important thing. But in terms of interest, noise, that will always be there whilst the window's open. But as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to speak about on that front.”