Hibernian captain David Gray refuses to consider anything other than beating Rangers in today’s William Hill Scottish Cup final.
The full-back and his Hibs team-mates have spent the week trying to recover from the devastation of last Friday’s Ladbrokes Premiership semi-final play-off defeat to Falkirk.
The Bairns won 5-4 on aggregate with a Bob McHugh goal in stoppage time to keep Hibs in the Championship for a third season.
Gray also missed the chance to lift the Scottish League Cup when Hibs were beaten by Ross County at the national stadium in March, losing out again to a last-gasp goal.
However, he is focusing only on ending Hibs’ 114-year wait for Scottish Cup success.
“I know the feeling I had on Friday night and it is not a feeling I can even contemplate having again,” said the 28-year-old.
“Dealing with the disappointments on Friday, waking up with it on Saturday and having to think about that happening again is something I never want to do at all,” said the former Hearts youth player.
“It was quickly about getting it to the back of my mind and focusing on what could possibly be a great weekend ahead.
“(The Ross County defeat) was the same sort of feeling, dealing with the disappointment of that.
“Watching someone else go up and lift the trophy was a massive disappointment for me, and the players were all hurting after that as well.
“It would have been worse if we had not turned up (against County). I thought we played well and were maybe just a little bit unlucky on the day.
“But we didn’t win so we need to make sure that we can try to put it right this weekend.
“Our aim was to get promoted, we are not hiding from that fact. We made that clear all season.
“So not to do that was very disappointing, and if we could manage to secure the Scottish Cup it would at least give the fans something that they have not had for a long, long time and it would end the season on a high.”
Gray admits he has to stop himself thinking about becoming the first Hibs captain to lift the trophy since 1902 but acknowledges that bringing an end to the club’s Scottish Cup hoodoo would be “a great thing”.
The former Manchester United, Preston and Stevenage player said: “It is a massive honour to be captain of this club anyway. Full stop.
“But to be able to do that, to get rid of that monkey on everyone’s back, would be a great achievement as a whole squad and everyone involved at the club,” he said.
“I try not to visualise it too much. It is easy to get carried away with these sort of things.
“I keep pinching myself to say that I need to prepare as if it is another game of football.
“Training has been really good all week and everyone is hungry and determined to make it a successful end to the season.
“We tried to win everything this season and we had the chance to do it, but it is disappointing that we have not managed to do that.”
