{"id":603717,"date":"2025-11-30T17:08:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T17:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/603717\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T17:08:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T17:08:15","slug":"david-gray-makes-spooked-claim-as-celtic-see-off-his-hibernian-side-at-easter-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/603717\/","title":{"rendered":"David Gray makes ‘spooked’ claim as Celtic see off his Hibernian side at Easter Road"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

That was a toil for Celtic against Hibernian, but they rounded off another outstanding week under Martin O\u2019Neill. <\/strong><\/p>\n

David Gray\u2019s<\/a> side picked up a point against Celtic<\/a> last time out at Parkhead, so everyone knew the threat was there in Edinburgh. <\/p>\n

But deservedly, Celtic beat Hibernian 2-1<\/a>, thanks to goals from Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels<\/a>, as both the strikes came within 33 seconds of one another. <\/p>\n

In Gray\u2019s post-match interview, he made sure to mention that costly moment for his team. <\/p>\n

Who is your man of the match? \"ArnePhoto by WM Sport Media\/Getty Images \"DavidPhoto by Ian MacNicol\/Getty ImagesDavid Gray on Hibernian being \u2018spooked\u2019 by Celtic <\/p>\n

Nobody is going to deny that Hibs put a lot of pressure on Celtic<\/a> towards the end, that\u2019s why Gray told Sky Sports his team \u2018deserved to get something\u2019 from the match. <\/p>\n

But he admitted that Celtic\u2019s quick-fire double in the first half \u2018spooked\u2019 his players, and he couldn\u2019t wait until the half-time break. <\/p>\n

\u201cDisappointed we lost the game,\u201d said Gray. \u201cI think we deserved to get something from it. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I do take the emotion out of it, and I do reflect on the game, and I watch it back. Everything I asked the players to do at the start of the game, in terms of being aggressive and getting after Celtic. <\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to be on the front foot. I thought we did. Creating a couple of chances in that moment. Big chance, probably need to take that when you are on top. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom then on, we gave Celtic the first goal with a mistake, which is a genuine mistake. It\u2019s something I take responsibility for because I ask them to play a certain way. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen you can\u2019t give Celtic a two-goal start. Within a minute, we are 2-0 down. That\u2019s maybe because of the players feeling like they were so comfortable in the game. Playing well in the game that they didn\u2019t want to change as much. We didn\u2019t quite get the press right, and from there, you find yourself 2-0 down.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom then, we needed half-time, if I am totally honest. We got a bit spooked. Celtic, of course, got confidence from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celtic \u2018one of the best teams in the country\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that Celtic haven\u2019t been at their best this season, but O\u2019Neill has certainly changed the mood<\/a>, with the legendary coach winning all of his domestic games in charge. <\/p>\n

Gray stated that Hibs dropping points needs to be \u2018put in perspective\u2019 because he thinks his players went \u2018toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the country.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Celtic are now two points behind Hearts<\/a>, with a game in hand, and some crucial matches coming up next week. <\/p>\n

Do you agree with James McFadden? <\/p>\n

\n

Martin O\u2019Neill\u2019s come in to do what he\u2019s done and probably exceeded expectation. It was to come in and bring stability back to the team. He\u2019s done that brilliantly, winning games and performances have been great. You can tell what the fans feel about him. He\u2019s a legend. He\u2019s certainly not [tainted his legacy]. You can tell he\u2019s enjoying himself. He\u2019s been exactly what Celtic needed at this time. You can see a team working and fighting for each other. His job was to stabilise the club and put them in a better place, and that\u2019s undoubtedly going to be the case.<\/p>\n

James McFadden on Sky Sports<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cYou still have to put it in perspective,\u201d added Gray. \u201cThey went toe-to-toe against one of the best teams in the country. Playing well, and deserved to get something from the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That was a toil for Celtic against Hibernian, but they rounded off another outstanding week under Martin O\u2019Neill.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[46203,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-603717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-david-gray","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115639754632217830","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}