Hibs finally have the savvy to go up
Gray says side hold advantage over rivals
HIBS skipper David Gray saw title-rivals Dundee United slip up at Dumbarton and was not in the least surprised. After all, that is why the Easter Road club have been stuck in the lower leagues for three years.
After finally getting off to a decent start in the Championship following sluggish openings in the past, Gray is convinced Neil Lennon’s side have the experience, know-how and creative guile required to hoist them back into the top flight.
A jittery Hibs ended up making it far more difficult than they should have in edging out Dunfermline, who assisted the home side no end with an own goal from Ben Richards-Everton and a slip from fellow defender Callum Fordyce that allowed Jason Cummings to net a winner.
The bumper Easter Road crowd of nearly 16,500 had feared they would experience another second-half collapse from Hibs after on-loan Hearts striker Gavin Reilly netted.
But Cummings’ strike eased the mood in the ground — and it improved all the more with the news of United’s shock defeat.
‘We were beaten ourselves by Dumbarton, we lost at Alloa and at Queens last season,’ said Gray.
‘It’s very difficult. We beat Premiership teams and did very well, but it’s a different approach because we are the so-called big team in the division and we have to be ready for that.
‘We’ve now had a couple of years’ experience of it and it’s a real bonus to know what to expect. Dundee United coming down will have discovered it’s very difficult. There are no easy games. You have to apply yourselves in every single match.
‘We’ve always said the last two seasons we failed to start well and left ourselves with far too much to do. We need to put the Scottish Cup behind us to move on, forget about it and concentrate on starting well, so two wins is great.
‘In my first season, Hearts won the Championship pretty much by Christmas. Then last season we had too much to do towards the end, so it’s definitely better being in front and to have people chasing you rather than you chasing.’
Gray (right) was delighted to see the impressive attendance, which was swelled by over 1,200 from Fife. As Alan Stubbs’ first signing, it was in contrast to his league debut three years ago when Hibs attracted just over 9,000 to a game against Livingston.
He said: ‘That was the lowest point. Coming in, there were only six or seven players on the books at the time, so where we were then to now is a massive difference. The fans have come back in their numbers. It must have been difficult for them to deal with being relegated and losing all the players.
‘You could see it today with more than 16,000 — it shows they are coming back. They’ve been great since the day I came in. They’ve followed us everywhere and long may that continue.
‘We know the fans are there. We have to make sure we keep doing the right things and I am sure they’ll keep coming back.
‘We finished last season well, which gave us a big boost along with the new manager coming in. We’ve kept hold of players and we feel we are in a good place. We have to concentrate on paying the fans back by putting in good performances.’ Dunfermline goal hero Reilly reckoned the Pars could have snatched a shock win after taking advantage of murmurings from the huge crowd. He said: ‘I thought we were well in the game in the second half and had chances. It’s disappointing to lose, especially because of the way the goals happened, but we will just need to pick ourselves up and go again next week. ‘The crowd got on their back. It’s a big crowd and a big club and we used that to our advantage. If we had managed to score again then, hopefully, they would have turned on them. ‘It was a good game for the neutral but we didn’t come out with anything and that’s disappointing because we were on top after we had equalised.
‘It’s about matching up and I thought we did that well for most of the game. We’re a good attacking side and we can defend well, too. We have got to utilise all that we’ve got and I think we’ll go 4-4-2 for most of the season because we have got the personnel to do that. I thought we showed today we are a good side.’
Meanwhile, Hibs are set to complete the loan signing of Birmingham City’s Scotland international Andrew Shinnie this week.
HIBS (3-4-1-2): Laidlaw; McGregor (Forster 90), Hanlon, Fontaine (McGeouch 74); Gray, Bartley, McGinn, Stevenson; Keatings; Holt (Boyle 68), Cummings. Subs not used: Virtanen, Harris, Martin, Crane. Booked: Bartley, Fontaine, Boyle. DUNFERMLINE (4-4-2): Hutton; Williamson, Fordyce, Richards-Everton, Martin; McCabe, Higginbotham, Geggan, Cardle; Moffat (Hopkirk 82), Reilly. Subs not used: Gill, Talbot, Paton, Spence, McMullan, Lochhead. Booked: Martin. Referee: Willie Collum. Attendance: 16,477. Man of the match: Jason Cummings.