Motherwell mood lifter boosts Hibs confidence as players see method in gaffer Gray's masterplan

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Keeper Smith’s clean sheet built on wealth of experience and relentless graft of entire team, insists relieved boss

What a difference a clean sheet makes. How valuable is a comfortable win to a team consistently on the wrong end of every break for most of this season? The bidding starts at priceless …

HTC has been a much happier venue over recent days; smiles are wider, and steps carry a lot more spring. In the aftermath of Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Motherwell at Fir Park, everyone’s just feeling a little more confident about being on the right path.

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Head coach David Gray recognises the importance of his players being given something tangible to show for their efforts. He now has something he can point to, a complete 90-minute performance, as evidence that his methods work.

Keeping Motherwell off the score sheet was a particular boost, of course, for stand-in goalkeeper Jordan Smith, who spoke with such eloquence about his doubts, fears, hopes and ambitions after being dropped into the No. 1 spot after Josef Bursik’s fall from grace. The experienced back-up’s battlefield promotion certainly worked out, despite the three goals conceded against Aberdeen last Tuesday night.

“I think goalkeepers are always judged on that, aren't they?” said Gray, when asked about the clean sheet. “But I've said for a number of weeks now it's about everyone - and I mean everyone. Against Motherwell, it started right at the front; I thought the pressure we got on the ball high up the pitch made a huge difference

“But also taking our chances relieves the pressure at the other end. So we saw everything we have talked about, and I've mentioned all season happened, but for 90-plus minutes, which was really great to see. And the players take confidence from that.

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“With Jordan conceding goals against Aberdeen, I think I've already said I've got tough decisions to make every week, especially when you're not winning. And my decision to stick with him in goals was yes, he made a mistake for the goal.

“But he's a very experienced player. Even though he’s not played the minutes he would want, you know he's able to rely on that experience of playing at a very high level.

“We saw him use all his experience at the weekend. That was really important for us because it’s been a difficult period, being flung in against Aberdeen under a really tough set of circumstances, having not played for such a long time. But he also came in during a time of incredible scrutiny on the goalkeepers, because of the goals we’d been losing.

“It was a real challenge. But he did really well and deserves to feel good about the clean sheet.”

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Admitting that he’d enjoyed his Monday-morning meeting with the squad a little more on the back of a win, Gray revealed that he hadn’t changed his core message drastically, saying: “I just keep telling them to believe in what we were doing, all the things we've talked about previously, the importance of doing the basics well.

“The difference this week was that I could then demonstrate to the players why we won the game against Motherwell. Even if there is still improvement to be gained, of course.

“A lot of players are going to take a lot of confidence from that because the confidence has been low, you can see that when the situation we're in. But the last two games have certainly been much more positive, and you've seen that at the weekend.

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“Once the dust has settled and you come in on the Monday, despite the situation we’ve been in, I’ve stressed a lot of positives within the meetings. Even though the result hasn't been what we wanted

“So to get that added belief for the players then when it does actually come good is helpful. They see all the things I had been talking about.

“When you go and get a result against Motherwell, I'm able to demonstrate it again. It's not a lot of the things within the game, it's nothing that they've not seen already in other games, it's just putting it all together for the full performance of the game.”

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