David Gray thanks Hibernian board for showing faith in him after securing third

Hibernian manager David Gray thanked the club’s board for sticking by him after his team secured third place in the William Hill Premiership with a 2-2 draw at St Mirren.

First-half efforts from Martin Boyle and Mykola Kukharevych had Hibs in the ascendancy before Saints hit back to earn a point thanks to goals from Richard Taylor and Conor McMenamin.

The draw, though, combined with Aberdeen’s loss to Celtic, confirmed Hibs will finish in third this season, an incredible turnaround given they were bottom of the table in December.

Gray was grateful to the club for showing faith in him when it might have been easier to make a change in the dugout.

He said: “I’ve just said to the players, it’s an unbelievable achievement.

“From where we were, the hard work, the togetherness, everything, going through that adversity, to manage to secure third place with a game to spare is massive credit to the players.

“I’m delighted because it’s what I believed we could do as a group. I’m also delighted that the club showed faith in me during that difficult time.

“Going through that period, I found out a lot about myself. But also the club had to stay strong during the moments because the points return at that stage was nowhere near good enough. And I knew that, and I was responsible for that.

“But I was always able to demonstrate that the players were fully behind what we were doing. I was seeing it every day, and I always believed, given the time, we would turn it around.

“To a man, they gave me absolutely everything all season, the staff, everybody involved, always believed in the group. And we’ve had the rewards for that.”

St Mirren were chasing the victory that would have taken them above Dundee United into fifth place as they seek a return to Europe next season.

Manager Stephen Robinson revealed he was baffled at the decision to chalk off a Mikael Mandron strike with the score at 2-2.

He said: “We scored two goals and we have a third goal disallowed by the fourth official.

“I’ve not had an explanation that’s in any way acceptable for the third goal being disallowed.

“(The referee) has given a foul but he’s played on as an advantage because Hibs have the ball.

“It’s now a different phase of play, in my opinion. And Hibs have good control of the ball.

“They give it away, we break and score. So, I think that’s classed as a different phase of play. The referee let it play on and then pulled it back for the fourth official saying it was a foul at that stage.

“So if that’s true, VAR have to correct that. If it’s wrong, if they haven’t, then I don’t really know what to say because no one seemed to be able to give any answers.”