David Gray fumes at his Hibs softies as club hero goes in on 'unacceptable' St Mirren pasting

David Gray branded Hibs’ second-half collapse “unacceptable” as his first Premiership game as permanent manager ended in a convincing defeat.

He was furious at failure to follow up an encouraging first period performance. And he reckons a litany of errors leading to the goals showed up Hibs as a soft touch. Gray said: “It was certainly a game of two halves, that’s for sure. And as soon as you see the result the performance becomes irrelevant.

“Because to lose 3-0 is unacceptable for us. We created enough chances to be in front. So there are positives to take from that. The fact that we’re creating the chances is great – and we limited them to very little. To then concede straight after half time, that’s very avoidable. I thought there was a softness to the goals we lost and that’s a concern.

“The second goal is just a genuine mistake, which happen in games. But then the reaction from that, to go and lose the third goal in the manner we did, it was so avoidable.

“From the top end of the pitch, there were three or four things we could’ve done to affect that better. Then the game is gone.”

Dylan Vente and Martin Boyle blundered instead of giving the visitors a fighting chance. Gray added: “The chances we created, we had to take, which would’ve given us opportunity to kick on again.

“We had a massive chance to make it 1-1. Overall, they were more clinical in their box. They defended their own box better than we did. That was why it was 3-0.”

Hibs host Celtic next Sunday and Gray insists it’s crucial not to dwell on this false start. He said: “It’s pretty clear from the feeling in the dressing room that they know it wasn’t good enough.It’s something we need to rectify very quickly because it doesn’t get any easier in the