David Gray called on his embattled Hibernian players to use the exhilaration of their dramatic 3-3 draw with Aberdeen to kick-start their season.
The Easter Road boss felt his bottom-of-the-table side deserved to beat the high-flying Dons but in the end was delighted to salvage a point from an incredible match that featured three stoppage-time goals.
Hibs led at the break through Joe Newell but the Reds looked on course to go joint top of the table with Celtic after goals from Jamie McGrath and Nicky Devlin turned the tide.
Nicky Cadden equalised in the second minute of stoppage time, only for sub Ester Sokler to restore Aberdeen’s lead in the fifth of six added minutes. With the jubilant Dons fans ready to savour victory, Hibs defender Rocky Bushiri popped up at the death to score his first goal since joining the club almost three years ago.
The Hibees remain bottom on goal difference, but Gray hopes the spirit they showed to rescue a point can inspire them to climb the table.
“It is quite hard to actually explain exactly how I’m feeling at the moment,” he said. “I think one thing I would say is, the atmosphere in the dressing room right now, the way it feels, the players need to take immense credit.
“Their attitude and their character was tested again immensely tonight, and they found an answer right at the very end, so from that point of view, there’s a lot of positives to take from it.
“Then when I start to strip it back and think about the game as a whole and how it went, I think it’s a game we deserve to win.
“We’ve obviously shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times as well in moments within the game, but it’s a point, and I think you can feel that sort of energy at the end at the stadium. We need to build on that, because when you find yourselves in the position we are, it’s a point towards where we need to get to.”
Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin admitted his side lost their concentration amid the stoppage-time mayhem.
“It was an emotional game,” said the Swede. “I think after the first half, having come back into the game, fighting back and doing some really good individual things, sometimes, like at the equaliser, there is so much emotion that you lose a little bit of concentration.
“That’s football, it happens all over the world sometimes, these strange games. After you have so much emotion when you score, and it’s an amazing goal, you celebrate and then it’s just a kick-off and the game is over. Then this happens. That’s a really tough learning point from us today. The game is not over until it’s over. Of course, everybody was disappointed in the dressing room. We have to learn from this and mature as a team and try to come back.”
