David Gray: Hibernian forced to make Highlands journey early due to Storm Eowyn

David Gray revealed how Storm Eowyn forced Hibernian to travel to the Highlands earlier than planned ahead of Saturday’s match against Ross County in Dingwall.

Hibs intended to make the journey north on Friday afternoon after a training session at their East Mains base just outside Edinburgh.

But as a result of the extreme weather warning for Scotland’s central belt, they decided to set off on their journey north at 8am and arranged to use Inverness’ stadium for a Friday afternoon training session.

“It’s clearly not ideal but definitely nothing that anyone can control,” said Gray after his squad arrived in Inverness at lunchtime on Friday. “I think a normal preparation would have been coming in this morning, train this morning and then get on the bus and head up to Ross County.

“Clearly that wasn’t going to be an option. One, you would never get training done with the wind and two, the red weather warning not allowing you to be on the roads between 10am and 5pm.

“So we took the decision last night (Thursday), once we got a clear idea from the bus company and everything else that it could be possible, that we would go up earlier this morning, go out of the central belt earlier and then we’ve arrived up in Inverness already, so we’ve managed to get the travel done.

“We’ve done everything we can to make sure we’re ready and everything will be set for tomorrow. That reduces the risk of having to put the travel off until later or having to travel up on the day. We’re really grateful we were able to get up safely and it’s actually not too bad up here.”

Nicky Cadden, the William Hill Premiership Player of the Month for December, has travelled and will play with a protective mask after suffering a broken nose in the win over Motherwell a fortnight ago.

“He had to get his nose realigned, and then they’ve given him a mask,” said Gray. “I think it might be up to about six weeks he needs to wear it, but it’s a specialist mask, you see a lot of players wearing it nowadays, for cheekbone injuries and nose injuries. He’s comfortable with that, so he will be available if selected.”

Gray thanked Ben Kensell for his support after the Englishman departed Hibs this week following three and a half years as the club’s chief executive.

“I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about him,” said Gray. “I think he’s been very, very supportive of me throughout my whole time at the football club.

“He played a massive part in giving me the opportunity to be head coach at the football club, so I’ll always be very grateful for that. Even when I think back during the difficult times this season, he always asked me difficult questions when they needed to be asked, but he was always very supportive of me as well. He was a big help during the difficult times, which not everybody obviously gets to see.”

Hibs are yet to make a signing this month but Gray said: “The biggest challenge is to make sure when the window closes, that we’re in a stronger position than we were when the window opened, and I’m very confident that’ll be the case.”