David Gray hails ‘incredible achievement’ as Hibernian match club record run

David Gray paid tribute to his players and their “incredible achievement” after Hibernian’s 4-0 win over Dundee equalled a club record of 17 successive William Hill Premiership games unbeaten and took them clear in third place.

Defender Rocky Bushiri opened the scoring in the 26th minute, substitute Kieron Bowie doubled the lead in the 68th minute and Dwight Gayle, another replacement, curled in a third.

Bowie grabbed his second in the 84th minute, the first time Hibs have scored four goals in a top-flight game since May 2023 when they beat Celtic, with the victory taking them three points clear of Dundee United and Aberdeen with five post-split fixtures remaining.

The turnaround in form has been remarkable given the Easter Road side were bottom of the table as recently as December.

Gray said: “A great performance, fantastic result. To score four goals in the Premiership is very difficult, but delighted with the clean sheet as well.

“The level of consistency, the level of performance and the effort I’m getting from the players every single day in training and in games now is incredible and that’s a reflection on 17 games undefeated, which is an incredible achievement.

“We talk about it (the record), but at the same time we’ve been very much about short-term goals a lot this season because of the nature of the season and where we’ve found ourselves, to where we are now.

“Little incentives to try and change history in positive ways, it’s probably a quote I’ve used a lot this season, but we’ve managed to do that several times and today was another opportunity to do that.

“The challenge for us is, if we keep winning, nobody can catch us.

“I keep saying that to the players all the time and, if that keeps happening, the run will keep going.

“The players are desperate to keep that going. There’s a real feel-good factor around the club at the minute.

“It’s a real togetherness from the staff to the players, to the fans, the powers that be above, everyone’s in a real good place, but we’re all determined now to make sure we finish as strong as we can.”

Dundee remain five points ahead of bottom side St Johnstone and one behind Ross County and Kilmarnock.

Boss Tony Docherty said: “Today was a surprise for me, I must admit. That’s something that we need to get to the bottom of as a group.

“There’s a lot of frustration and disappointment.

“The team that have been as good as we’ve been in our last four league fixtures, beating St Mirren, beating Dundee United, should have got a positive result against Rangers and a draw against St Johnstone, that team never turned up in the first half.

“Now whether that was down to Hibs’ reputation or whatever, but certainly we addressed that at half-time.

“I thought when we came out in the second half, we were a better team.

“I thought it was us looking like the team that were going to get the next goal.

“That’s the team I want to see, that’s the bravery I want to see. But then to allow the game to flow and go away from us the way we did in the second, third and fourth goal, we need to take real responsibility for it.

“It’s happened too many times. So there’s real disappointment from that point of view.”