'Momentum is building': Gray hails Hibs form ahead of Edinburgh derby

David Gray revealed the feelgood factor Hibernian have been generating throughout their exhilarating 14-game unbeaten run has left them in perfect fettle heading into Sunday’s Edinburgh derby.

Hibs have surged from bottom of the Premiership to fourth and have also progressed to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup during a stunning mid-season run.

Over the past few months, Gray’s side have savoured some impressive victories away to the likes of Aberdeen, Hearts and Dundee United, while they have also drawn at home to Rangers and defeated champions Celtic.

The manager believes the euphoric post-match celebrations his players are getting to experience with their supporters is helping create a special bond at the club.

“We are talking about it a lot, that togetherness,” Gray said ahead of Sunday’s Easter Road showdown with Hearts. “I think a lot of that’s been built on the poor start and where we found ourselves and how difficult these moments were, constantly being questioned and dealing with that adversity.

“But when you see the scenes. Obviously we talked about Sunshine on Leith for the first time for some of the players to experience that (after beating Celtic last weekend), winning at Tynecastle for the first time in five years was huge.

“And then even just the scenes at Dundee United on Wednesday, at the full-time whistle, or even when VAR delayed our goal, so celebrating it initially and then going and celebrating it again, everybody running directly to the fans.

“I think when Keiron Bowie hits the back of the net (for Hibs’ second goal in a 3-1 win), the bench erupts as well and runs towards the fans, so you really feel it.

“I think we’re seeing that in the performances as well. Everybody feels part of it and that helps with winning games. The momentum is building. We certainly can’t go into the game in any better place than we are at the moment.”

Hibs are now within a point of third-placed Aberdeen, having been a whopping 23 points behind the Dons after their 3-3 draw at Easter Road in late November.

While proud of the run his side has been on, Gray knows his side must keep their foot to the floor over the coming weeks to ensure they are in the top six and able to push for a European place.

“We’ve given ourselves a brilliant opportunity because of the incredible run we’ve been on,” he said. “But when you look at how tight the table still is, it just shows you how difficult that run was and how proud we should be of what we’ve done.

“But as I’ve always said, we need to keep moving forward, we need to keep progressing, we need to keep improving because we’ve still got a lot to do.

“There’s still a lot of huge games between now and the split before anything’s decided and then from that moment on, once we see where we are, we can start looking up the way from there.”

Hibs and Hearts occupied the bottom two places in the league when they last met at Easter Road, but they are now both in the top six, with the Jambos having lost only one of their last 11 since going down to their city rivals at Tynecastle on Boxing Day.

“Clearly the two sides are in very good form at the moment, it’s a very different situation to the last time we met (at Easter Road),” said Gray. “Both sets of supporters are going into the game fancying their chances because of the run of form each team’s in. It’s a fantastic game to look forward to.”