David Gray wants Hibernian to ‘kick on’ after thrilling Edinburgh derby success

Manager David Gray hopes Hibernian’s first “statement win” of the season can be a catalyst for the second half of the campaign after they held on to defeat William Hill Premiership leaders Hearts 3-2 in a dramatic Edinburgh derby.

The Hibees were three up and seemingly coasting early in the second half after Kieron Bowie added to first-half goals from Jamie McGrath and substitute Josh Campbell.

But Hearts hit back through Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin, setting up a grandstand finale in which Shankland and Beni Baningime were denied by Hibs goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger in stoppage time.

It was the first time in seven attempts this term that fifth-placed Hibs had managed to defeat Celtic, Rangers or Hearts and they got to experience the rare thrill of singing Sunshine on Leith with their supporters at full-time.

“I’m delighted to get over the line in the end,” said Gray. “Everything I asked the players to do, they did, and we found ourselves 3-0 up.

“I’m really pleased with how we started the second half as well. With a couple of good decisions, we might have made it 4-0.

“But 3-0 up is a brilliant position to be in. And then, full credit to Hearts, they get a goal at a good time for them.

“Then once they get the second one, that’s when it completely changes and that’s when you’re massively relying on the character of the players and a big save from our goalkeeper at a very important time. All in all, I think we deserved to win the game.

“What’s eluded us probably is that statement win. This is the halfway point of the season, so we need to use this as a big opportunity and use all the positives from today to really kick on.”

Hearts boss Derek McInnes lamented his table-topping side’s failure to “do the basics” correctly as they suffered their second league defeat of the campaign.

“To lose the goals we did three minutes into each half, it was a real blow,” he said. “We didn’t do the basics well enough, it’s as simple as that.

“We’ve got to where we’ve got this season, not by being Barcelona but by doing the basics well and playing from that. We never did that well enough.

“Hibs were the better team in the first half and we put ourselves in such a sticky situation by losing the third goal and we lost our wherewithal for about five minutes after that.

“Our body language wasn’t great at that point because we’re not used to it.

“Then you saw the strength, character and spirit of the team to keep going. Shankland gets a goal and from there, you just saw Hibs having a wee wobble.

“We got the next one and then it was all about ‘can we get that moment?’ and the keeper pulls off a brilliant save to stop us getting the equaliser.

“But you can’t expect to play for half an hour.”