David Gray and Hibernian set sights on third-place finish

David Gray believes in-form Hibernian have given themselves the “best possible opportunity” to finish the season on a high note.

The Easter Road side are unbeaten in 15 Premiership matches after goals from forwards Junior Hoilett, Martin Boyle and Kieron Bowie secured a comfortable 3-0 home win over St Johnstone on Saturday.

Hibs are now assured of a top-six place with two games to spare before the split and are a point ahead of Aberdeen in the battle for third place, which will carry the reward of guaranteed Europa League group-stage football should Celtic win the Scottish Cup.

“All we can do is take care of ourselves,” said Gray, when asked about his side’s prospects in the battle for third. “That’s top six secured now, ticked off with two games to go, which is brilliant.

“That’s not happened at this club for a few years now, so that’s the first achievement. That’s what you set out to do at the start of every season, make sure you’re in the top six, so that’s done. We’ve put ourselves in a fantastic position.

“We can’t catch the team in front now (Rangers are 18 points clear). So it’s a case of how do you stay there (third)? The only way we can stay there now is to keep winning games of football.

“If we keep winning, nobody can catch us, so that’s the focus. Everything’s geared up for a strong finish and we’ve given ourselves the best possible opportunity, which is all we can ask for at this stage.”

Hibs’ unbeaten run will be put to the test when they visit Rangers next Saturday.

“We’ve got a real good game to look forward to now,” said Gray. “It’ll be a difficult game, clearly, but we’re in a really good run of form.

“That’s 15 games undefeated in the league, it’s an incredible achievement. So we’re going into the game in a real good place. We’ll be going there with a game plan to make sure we try and win the game.”

Saints were unable to muster an attempt at goal as they remained five points adrift at the bottom but boss Simo Valakari is confident his players – who had won six and drawn two of their previous 10 matches – can banish their Easter Road no-show and keep alive their survival prospects.

“Nothing changes,” he stressed. “We have been in this situation before many times. I take responsibility, we need to own this performance, we don’t have any other option, as we haven’t had in the last three months (since slipping to the bottom of the league). We need to go again.

“If we start feeling sorry for ourselves, if we start feeling frustrated, disappointed, angry, making excuses, then it’s over, finito.

“That’s why, boom, we go. And I know my players will shake this off. They feel it, they hurt, of course, because they are good boys, they wanted to show in a nice stadium, in front of a lot of fans, how good they are, and we couldn’t do it.

“We shake it off and we need to go again.”