David Gray gets Hibs backing as Martin Boyle calls on team mates to rise to occasion of 'biggest derby in years'

David Gray might be feeling the heat after just 13 games as Hibs boss but Martin Boyle is certain the Easter Road legend will be successful given time. The 36-year-old is preparing for his first Edinburgh derby as manager and knows defeat on his own patch on Sunday will leave Hibs cut adrift at the bottom and the pressure ramp right up on his own position.

Boyle was a team mate of the 2016 Scottish Cup Final hero and is now a senior part of his dressing room leadership group. And he has demanded his team mates give more for the manager - and for the shirt.

He said: “I have no doubt in my mind that the gaffer will be successful here. It’s a results business, it can be ruthless. But I have no doubt, we have the belief in him that we can turn this around. We have a group of players that will do it. Hopefully we can do that on Sunday. Not only for us, the fans, but for him because he deserves it.”

In nine years at Easter Road, Boyle has played under eight bosses - with Gray filling in as caretaker on four occasions before being handed the reins permanently in the summer. And the Australia international is desperate to make sure his stay in the hot seat isn’t as short as his predecessors.

He said: “It's never nice seeing anyone lose a job. I've been there a few times. I’d run through a brick wall for the manager, he knows that. He can lean on me and I can lean on him. The trust he's put in us, but we need to start giving more.

“That should be a 100 per cent given when you put on this shirt, you have to give everything for this football club. We need to start doing that. There's a lot more experienced players than me in there. But I think being around the environment a long time and seeing it all being here.

“Just that trust.