Hibs challenge issued as Rangers visit Easter Road for 'feisty' test in front of celebrating home fans

Hibs have been challenged to finish their incredible season “in style” by defeating Rangers at Easter Road tomorrow. And first-year head coach David Gray is adamant that, despite a party atmosphere among supporters, the contest will be just as “feisty” as ever.

Hibs secured third place in the Scottish Premiership with a game to spare courtesy of their draw away to St Mirren on Wednesday, effectively rendering tomorrow’s fixture a dead rubber. With the away allocation cut in half, home fans will be out in numbers looking to celebrate an achievement that seemed unlikely as their team scuttled along at the foot of the Scottish Premiership as recently as early December.

But Gray insists professionalism will be the order of day among a squad looking forward to European football, in some shape or form, next season, the former Scottish Cup-winning captain saying: "That's the challenge to the players: ‘Can you finish off the season in style?' It's the last home game of the season, the last game of the season. We've achieved everything we set out to do in terms of the league campaign, which is brilliant - but you want to finish the season with a win at home.

"It will be a really difficult game, they always are, but one to look forward to and I'm sure the atmosphere will be good as well. I know we've sold a lot of tickets so we want to finish the season on a high as much as we can.

“There are no such things as nothing games for both sets of players. I know Rangers will be desperate to win. These games are always pretty feisty; they've been all good close games this season - so we want to try and win again against them.

"It'll be a difficult game but it's a brilliant game to look forward to. The way the season has gone, all the accolades the players are getting and rightly so for the performances they've put in, we certainly want to go and finish it as well as we can. There's no better way to do it than to win your last game of the season."

With a victory at Ibrox already in the bag, that win coming during a remarkable 17-game unbeaten run in the league, Hibs stand on the brink of an extended European run next season. Should Celtic beat Aberdeen in next weekend’s Scottish Cup final, the Edinburgh side will go into the Europa League play-offs, with a spot in the Europa Conference League proper guaranteed.

Gray insists he hasn’t yet begun to spend the millions that series of games might generate, although he said: "Moving forward, it’s about trying to strengthen the group, to always keep moving the club forward. And I think the opportunity to play in Europe, whatever that looks like, is a brilliant achievement for the club and a brilliant achievement for the players."

Former Newcastle, Crystal Palace strike ignored ‘One more year!’ demands

The head coach revealed, meanwhile, that players had been doing their best to talk veteran striker Dwight Gayle out of his decision to retire, saying: “He came on last week and scored. He comes back into the dressing room and everyone will shout: ‘One more year!’

“All these little things. He'll score a goal in training even, and people are shouting: ‘One more year!'

"He deserves to do it whatever way he wants to do it, for everything he's put into the game, the sacrifices he's made his whole career, how good a career he's had. He's been outstanding and I can only thank him for his contribution this season.

"He's been fantastic on and off the pitch, especially off the pitch, I know everyone will look at the things he does on the pitch because he's scored some massive goals for us and affected games as I knew he would. But how he's been every single day around the building, a proper leader by example, a real role model for the younger players as well.

"He deserves to retire in this way because of how much he's put into it and I'm sure if you ask him, he'll say he's really enjoyed this season as well. He fully deserves to go out the way he wants to go out.”

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