The Easter Road crowd can give Hibs an advantage in our UEFA Conference League Third Qualifying Round match against KF Shkëndija tonight believes David Gray.
The North Macedonian side, who reached the knockout stage of the Conference League in 2025/26, stand between Hibs and a play-off spot for the second consecutive season.
And the head coach believes the supporters show will be crucial to their hopes of becoming the first ever Hibs side to reach the league phase or group stage of any European competition.
“You want to try and use your home advantage the best you can, and we started the last game with that intent, and we need our supporters again tomorrow night,” Gray told Hibs TV.
“We know they (KF Shkëndija) are a very good side, and we are expecting a real tough test.
“But we are at home, and we want to be on the front foot.
“It certainly won’t be a defensive mindset right from the minute go, but we can’t be gung-ho right from the first minute.
“We want to be on the front foot. We want to use that home advantage and play the way we have played in the last couple of games in terms of that attacking threat.
“The bit that was missing at the weekend, and we might not get as many chances tomorrow night, so we need to make sure that we are more clinical.
“We are looking forward to it, and the players are getting better all the time in terms of more minutes in their legs and are benefiting from that.
“The extra day between Sunday and Thursday definitely helps as well and I’ve seen that today in training so we are ready for it.
“Everyone will be looking forward to it, and now it’s up to us to try and start the game as well as we can.”
Elsewhere, the Head Coach delivered a positive update on three players ahead of our match against KF Shkëndija.
Indeed, he confirmed that Callum Wright will be in contention for the visit of Artim Pollozhani’s side, while Nicky Cadden and Jamie McGrath both re-joined training on Wednesday.
He added: “Everybody’s ready for this one, and everybody wants to be available for it as much as they can because of what’s at stake – European football.
“A few players joined in [training], and it’s good to get a few numbers back.
“I think I did mention that straight after the [Motherwell] game that probably in another ten days down the line, the squad will look very different, and that’s really positive.
“If you think about the creative players in that final third, they will be back and up to speed a little bit more.
“The real positive one is Callum Wright.
“So he’s trained fully now for a couple of days. It was cleared on Monday, and he joined in with the group.
“Clearly, he’s not done a lot of training but is another one who’s available for the squad as long as he’s had no reaction from training today.
“Nicky Cadden and Jamie McGrath both part-trained today, but tomorrow will come too soon unfortunately.
“So that one is positive news, but not quite one for tomorrow, but by the time we get to potentially the weekend, then certainly the second leg against KF Shkëndija, which certainly adds a bit more strength and depth in certain areas.
“Another positive one was Ante Šuto, who hasn’t trained a lot but got minutes in the game on Sunday and has had no reaction.
“In terms of the game at the weekend, obviously Miguel [Chaiwa] and [Martin] Boyle came off on with bits and niggle, but hopefully it’s just fatigue for both.
“They’ve both trained since, and we’ll just see how they go.
“Joe Newell pulled up in the warm-up with a bit of tightness but hasn’t been ruled out for the squad yet, though he’s only done a bit today.
“We’ll make sure that doesn’t react and give him a chance for tomorrow.
“We’re certainly going in the right direction squad-wise, and that’s a real positive, as we need to be ready and you want everybody as fit as you can be because you’re going to need everyone.”
