Hibs captain David Gray explains why season is far from over yet

Although ultimately disappointed not to still be in the race for a potential Europa League place, under Paul Heckingbottom the city side’s renaissance has been remarkable to the extent Gray is adamant the ending of a ten-match unbeaten run shouldn’t suddenly bring the momentum they’ve built up to a halt.

While Kilmarnock and Aberdeen, Hibs’ final two opponents, will be scrapping it out for a third place finish in the Premiership table which will bring an automatic European spot with fourth also holding out such a possibility depending on the outcome of the Scottish Cup final between champions Celtic and Hearts, Gray believes Heckingbottom will use these remaining fixtures to continue assessing what needs to be done with an eye to next season.

“We’re not at all interested now in who finishes third or fourth,” said Gray, “but we won’t be taking out foot off the pedal because it’s important to keep pushing, not looking behind us but to trying to get as many points as we can.

“I’m sure the manager will already be looking towards next season, so it’s important to keep making a good impression, to end the season on a high by winning our last two matches and have everyone raring to go again after the summer.

“It’s important that every player who gets an opportunity to play gives everything they have got. That’s the way it has been for the last ten or 12 weeks and I don’t see that changing.

“There’s always something to play for and if you play for Hibs you are expected to put in a performance. We won’t be taking the foot off the pedal. There’s only two weeks to go and there will be plenty of time to rest after that.

“It will be full throttle on the training ground this week, the manager shaping us up and working on what he thinks is the best team to play Killie.”

Having been pegged back in the final Edinburgh derby of the season, Hibs had travelled to Ibrox knowing they needed at least a point from the match if their faint hope of catching either Killie or the Dons wasn’t to be extinguished, but the dream died as Jermain Defoe claimed the only goal of the game for Rangers.

However, as disappointed as Heckingbottom and his players were, Gray said: “I think when we look back we’ll realise how far we’ve come since the new manager came in. It’s been a fantastic run, the boys have done really well to get ourselves into a position where we were actually able to challenge for Europe.

“If you go back ten weeks no-one would have given us a chance of that, so to take it as long as we have is a credit to everyone involved.

“Ultimately we are disappointed we haven’t managed to do it, but I felt we did have chances to take something out of the game against Rangers. The way the second half went, if we had managed to get that equaliser I think we could have gone on to win the game.”

Back-to-back top six finishes have been a rarity in the past decade for Hibs, but having become former boss Alan Stubbs’ first signing after the club had suffered that shock relegation five summers ago, Gray firmly believes that over the years a platform has been built for further progress to be made under Heckingbottom.

He said: “It’s been a complete rebuilding job since I first came in. Back then there were only five or six senior pros in the dressing room.

“It takes time, but I think the club has been going forward the whole time. There’s been some great successes along the way. We’ve been saying we can compete at the top end of the table and I think we have shown we are good enough to do that.

“The manager will put his own stamp on things and I’d expect him to bring in a couple of new additions over the summer.

“I think we can be a real force again next season, but we have to end this season well to give us the platform to go again.”

Gray can sense the feel-good factor around Easter Road, season ticket sales on course to match last summer’s record total a reflection of that optimism, leading the man who scored that historic Scottish Cup winner to say: “It’s been a collective effort but this is a really enjoyable place to come and work every single day.

“But the minute you take that for granted results start to slip and we are determined that won’t happen.”