Liam Craig responded to the under-fire Rangers defender Bilel Mohsni last night by saying that he believes Hibernian have shown they are, indeed, contenders for the Championship title.
Mohsni had lit the touchpaper ahead of the Easter Road side's emphatic 3-1 win at Ibrox on Tuesday by stating the league was a two-horse race between his side and Hearts and is likely to be chastened behind-the-scenes by his manager, Ally McCoist, following an angry half-time exchange with home supporters.
The Hibernian manager, Alan Stubbs, refused to reveal whether he had used the Tunisian's remarks as a motivational tool, but his smile hinted at such tactics and he did suggest the player might now be re-evaluating his position.
Craig spoke of the delight gained from forcing Rangers to resort to long-ball tactics and certainly has hopes of pushing Hearts despite remaining 10 points behind.
"A lot has been said about that, but we have got to believe," stated the Edinburgh side's captain. "Obviously, you get told about them [Mohsni's comments], but we know what our squad is about and we know we have good players. It is only seven games in and that is why there wasn't a mad panic.
"We know we have let ourselves and the club down with some of the results, but we have players capable of coming to places such as Ibrox and winning games.
"At times, it wasn't pretty, but we were defensively solid and we limited Rangers to high balls into the box. The players have to take belief from it. We created the best chances, although we probably didn't have that much of the ball. The belief is there. We just have to work hard every week."
Hibernian, meanwhile, are sweating over the fitness of Gray after he had to be substituted at half-time at Ibrox.
Medical staff will now assess the injury before a decision can be made on his fitness for the visit of Raith Rovers on Saturday.
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