Hibs beating Rangers proves cool heads prevail as broken club bonded back together by David Gray – Tam McManus

They came through gritted teeth but Barry Ferguson’s words spoke loud and clear: “Hibs deserved to win - they tackled harder, ran harder and wanted it more.”

Saturday’s victory at Ibrox said it all about a Hibees side that now embodies everything their manager was as a player. David Gray will always be a legend in Leith due to his 2016 Scottish Cup Final winner against Rangers. But the job he is now doing as a manager topped off with Saturday’s win in Glasgow? It’s fairytale stuff - not that he’d welcome that description!

It’s not just the 16 game unbeaten run which has taken the club from bottom of the pile to pole position for third place. If you look deeper into the job that’s being done then Gray and his coaching team have improved players right across the board and turned Hibs into a winning machine.

Jordan Smith, Chris Cadden, Rocky Bushiri, Nectar Triantis, Dylan Levitt and Nathan Moriah-Welsh are just some of the players I reckon have stepped up a level in the past four or five months. At the top end Martin Boyle has rediscovered the spark that made him one of the best forwards in Scotland a few years ago.

That’s what head coaches are employed for - to improve players, get the best out of them and make the team better. Everyone looks like they know their job.

But if curing the problems on the park has been impressive then mending the fractures that existed in the stands has perhaps been even more remarkable. Think back to the St Mirren defeat in November that made it one win from the first 13 league games.

Hibs were broken. Everybody was getting it that day - Malky Mackay, the board, the owners, even David was getting it to an extent. I feared his time was up after just three or four months.

The fans let rip and