David Gray says that he has mixed emotions after Hibs were beaten in the UEFA Conference League Play-Off on aggregate by Legia Warsaw.
A late goal from the Polish side took the game to extra-time, with the hosts then breaking Hibs hearts during the extra 30 minutes.
When speaking after the game, Gray gave his thoughts on the performance.
“The result is really difficult to take right now. I have mixed feelings in terms of real disappointment for the players. I’m gutted for them because of what they put in and how brave they were. I am also immensely proud of their level of performance.
“The players did exactly what I asked the players to do, they showed their resilience and bravery. That’s what I thought was missing in the first half, having that belief that we could go and score two goals. I thought the second half performance was outstanding.
“Across the two legs I think we’re very unfortunate not to go through. There’s not much I can say to the players that’s going to make them feel any better, they’re low at the minute and understandably so, but I’ve reminded them how good we’ve been in Europe.
“The six games have been real difficult games, and we can take positives from that. We have gone toe-to-toe with some top sides, and we will be better from this experience.
“We’ve had a taste of Europe now, and that was the reward from last season. We’ve demonstrated we can compete at this level, so we need to take these performances into our domestic campaign.”
Over the six games, Hibs have faced three European regulars and gone toe-to-toe with each of them.
Whilst tough in the aftermath of the game, Gray reviewed Hibs’ European campaign.
“There’s a lot to be proud of, very much so. I’ve played it down at times because it’s difficult to take the games in complete isolation because they’re over two legs. If you look at the three away performances, it took a worldie free-kick in the Midtjylland game to stop us winning all three European away games over the 90 minutes.
“The players showed real bravery, and I say it all the time, we’ve got a really good group, we needed to be at our best to get results. We were, at times, really good, really brave, and we’ve demonstrated again we’re a very good side when we do that.
“We will have to improve because the games have been fine margins. We’ve seen the clinical nature of the teams we’ve played against and the quality at times, and you get punished for mistakes at this level.
“As I said, there’s a lot to be proud of, for the club to be proud of, and the supporters.
“Over time we will reflect on the European campaign. The outcome isn’t what we wanted, we wanted European group stage football, but we will definitely be better from the experience.”
