DAVID Gray could quite happily sustain himself on his former glories for the rest of his life if he wanted to.
The Hibs captain is sitting within the bowels of Hampden Park and being asked how often he turns to YouTube to relive the moment he wrote himself into the folklore of this grand old stadium - the goal which ended the Easter Road side’s 114-year wait for the Scottish Cup. “Well,” he says with a laugh, “I haven’t watched it today yet!”
All joking aside, Gray wants to be remembered for more than just one instant of football action, no matter how glorious. And he still has some unfinished business with the Betfred Cup.
You might have thought that epochal Scottish Cup win would be a year zero for the Easter Road side, erasing everything which went before it, but Gray said last night that he was still chiding himself for losing to Ross County in the final of the league cup just months before.
“We lost on the Sunday here in the final then had Inverness away in the Scottish Cup so we used it as motivation,” said Gray. “I still remember the feeling I had that night going home and never wanting to experience it again. It felt like something that got away for us although with the way the season ended we forgot about it to a point. But there are only four teams left in this competition and we know we’re capable of doing well in it.”
There are regrets too about the club’s first Hampden visit after that big day in May 2016. Back in the last four of the Scottish Cup against Aberdeen in April, the holders surrendered a goal to Adam Rooney within just 12 seconds, and eventually went down 3-2. “To give anyone a two-goal lead, never mind a team like Aberdeen who are a fantastic side, is going to be a tough task,” said Gray. “ We’ll be making sure we don’t start like that this weekend.”
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Gray has had a relationship with the national stadium ever since he first appeared, as a highly-rated 15-year-old, playing against the likes of Micah Richards of England, and alongside his current team-mate Lewis Stevenson for Scotland in the Victory Shield competition but that is ancient history compared to the fact this Hibs team ran Celtic so close as recently as the start of this month.
Gray laughs off the furore over a BT Sport poster which displays Rangers and Celtic in giant letters with Hibs and Motherwell relegated to the margins but the Parkhead side’s 59-match unbeaten domestic run has to come to an end sometime and – particularly with Neil Lennon at the controls - Hibs have no shortage of motivation and belief.
“It would be nice to be the team who goes and does that [ends the run] but at the same time he [Lennon] just wants to win,” said Gray, who is currently locked in a battle with Steven Whittaker for the right back spot. “That is regardless of whether it is Rangers, Celtic or whoever we were playing in this semi-final. He instils that every day in training, whether that be a daft 5-a-sides or a game of shooting. That is just his mentality.
“I hope they are knackered to a point,” Gray added. “But we know whoever they put out they will be a great side and these occasions speak for themselves.”
Download and listen to the latest Herald Sport podcast on iTunes and PodBean. This week special guest Tam McManus joins the Herald Sport team to preview the Betfred Cup semi-finals.
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