Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Hibs captain David Gray can’t contemplate further heartbreak in Scottish Cup final

David Gray (SNS Group / Craig Williamson)
David Gray (SNS Group / Craig Williamson)

HIBERNIAN captain David Gray refuses to consider anything other than beating Rangers in Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park.

The full-back and his Hibs team-mates have spent the week trying to recover from the devastation of last Friday’s Ladbrokes Premiership semi-final play-off defeat to Falkirk.

The Bairns won 5-4 on aggregate with a Bob McHugh goal in stoppage time to keep Hibs in the Championship for a third season.

Gray also missed the chance to lift the Scottish League Cup when Hibs were beaten by Ross County at the national stadium in March, losing out again to a last-gasp goal.

However, the former Hearts youth player is focusing only on ending Hibs’ 114-year wait for Scottish Cup success.

“I know the feeling I had on Friday night and it is not a feeling I can even contemplate having again,” said the 28-year-old.

“Dealing with the disappointments on Friday, waking up with it on Saturday and having to think about that happening again is something I never want to do at all.

“It was quickly about getting it to the back of my mind and focusing on what could possibly be a great weekend ahead.

“(The Ross County defeat) was the same sort of feeling, dealing with the disappointment of that. Watching someone else go up and lift the trophy was a massive disappointment for me and the players were all hurting after that as well.

“It would have been worse if we had not turned up (against County). I thought we played well and were maybe just a little bit unlucky on the day.

“But we didn’t wi,n so we need to make sure that we can try to put it right this weekend.

“Our aim was to get promoted, we are not hiding from that fact. We made that clear all season.

“So not to do that was very disappointing and if we could manage to secure the Scottish Cup it would at least give the fans something that they have not had for a long, long time and it would end the season on a high.”

Rangers captain Lee Wallace (left) and Hibernian captain David Gray look ahead to their forthcoming clash (SNS Group / Craig Williamson)
Rangers captain Lee Wallace (left) and Hibernian captain David Gray look ahead to their forthcoming clash (SNS Group / Craig Williamson)

Gray admits he has to stop himself thinking about becoming the first Hibs captain to lift the trophy since 1902 but acknowledges that bringing an end to the club’s Scottish Cup hoodoo would be “a great thing”.

The former Manchester United, Preston and Stevenage player said: “It is a massive honour to be captain of this club anyway. Full stop.

“But to be able to do that, to get rid of that monkey on everyone’s back would be a great achievement as a whole squad and everyone involved at the club.

“I try not to visualise it too much. It is easy to get carried away with these sort of things.

“I keep pinching myself to say that I need to prepare as if it is another game of football.

“Training has been really good all week and everyone is hungry and determined to make it a successful end to the season.

“We tried to win everything this season and we had the chance to do it but it is disappointing that we have not managed to do that.”


READ MORE

Scottish Cup Final: Rangers captain Lee Wallace targets his first major trophy for the club

Falkirk 3 Hibs 2 (5-4 on aggregate): Bairns seal play-off final place as Hibees slump again