David Gray tells his Hibernian players to ‘avoid the noise’ around Rangers

Hibernian head coach David Gray has stressed the need for his players to “ignore the noise” around Rangers and make sure they deliver a peak performance at Ibrox.

Home fans plan protests against head coach Russell Martin and those who appointed him following a poor start to the season which sees them sit 10th in the William Hill Premiership without a league win.

The visit to Hibs in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals is the latest challenge for Martin to overcome as he struggles to appease the Gers support and it is a major hurdle even this early in his reign.

Hibs are unbeaten in domestic football this season, secured results on the road against Midtjylland, Partizan Belgrade and Legia Warsaw, are unbeaten in three meetings with Rangers and won on their previous trip to Ibrox.

Gray said: “The big thing is to ignore the noise, because this challenge is a real difficult one. With the players they have got, an experienced manager, it will be a very difficult game.

“We need to be at our absolute best, as we have demonstrated already this season going away in Europe, performances have been very good. It needs to be that again.

“All I can focus on is things I can control, which is making sure I get a game plan, get the players ready and give them as much confidence as I can to get into the next round of the cup, regardless of who they are playing and what’s going on with the opposition, or what’s been said to be going on with the opposition.

“That’s something I can’t control. The players certainly can’t control that. All we can worry about is giving ourselves the best chance of getting into the next round.

“I know the extra noise that’s going around the game and what I have been very quick to remind the players, and I keep saying it to them, is that we still need to be at our very best to get a result.

“They are not a bad side at all. They are going through adversity at the moment. That can very quickly change. We have seen how that works, we have seen the level of players they have got, and we need to guard against that.”