The Hibees travel to Fir Park on Sunday off the back of an inspired performance in our UEFA Europa Conference League qualifier against FC Luzern.
Dylan Vente, Jordan Obita and Joe Newell were all on target in the second-half as we ran out 3-1 winners in what was a terrific team performance.
Gray has now urged the squad to take confidence from Thursday’s performance and take that momentum into this weekend’s clash with Motherwell.
Speaking to Hibs TV, he said: “I thought our performance was fantastic right from the start. To a man, every single player produced and put in a fantastic level of performance. Our work rate and energy levels were very high, our fans were right behind us from minute one and the players really thrived off that.
“All in all, it was a brilliant night for everyone involved.”
The team were back in on Friday morning for training, as the games continue to come thick and fast in what has been a frantic start to the 2023/24 campaign. With a packed fixture schedule, Gray explained the significance of rest and recovery ahead of another important league fixture.
“There will be an element of fatigue from Thursday night, it was such a massive effort from everyone involved", Gray continued.
“But when you come off the back of a positive performance and result the aches and pains don’t feel quite as bad.
“It is difficult playing Sunday and Thursday but we have got fantastic facilities here, great staff members and sport science/physio’s whose job it is to try and get the players turned around as quickly as they can.
“The ones who need recovery, we will get them in as quickly as possible for recovery; the players who didn’t play or who don’t have as many minutes in their legs – they will train as normal to make sure that they are fresh and ready to play on Sunday if called upon.”
The Hibees have emerged victorious on four of the last five visits to Fir Park, however, Gray is under no illusions as to how difficult a fixture this will be.
“We know it will be very difficult, they finished very strongly at the end of last season. We know they are very organised, they have added a few new signings as well and have a couple of physical strikers. We know what to expect but it is a challenge we are looking forward to.
“It will all come down to who turns up on Sunday, whoever performs best on the day will get the right result. All we can do as coaches is make sure we are as prepared as possible.
“A lot of our players have been there before, so for the newer lads, we will make sure they are aware of what to expect. It will be very difficult game but it is one we are really looking forward to and we will take confidence from last night’s result into Sunday.”
