David Gray relives wild Hibs scenes that saw him showered in pints as he targets giving fans another Euro night to savour

Daily Record

9 hours ago

Hibs are in the Netherlands stepping up their preparations for the July 24 Europa League second qualifying round first leg against Midtjylland in Denmark
David Gray's memorable goal for Hibs against Brondby in Europe literally left a nice taste in his mouth.
And as he gears up to oversee the Leith side's return to continental football from the dugout, the Hibees legend knows exactly what these trips mean to the fans.
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Hibs are in the Netherlands stepping up their preparations for the July 24 Europa League second qualifying round first leg against Midtjylland in Denmark.
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Some nine years ago in the same country they racked up a famous 1-0 win over Brondby to level their qualifying tie in the same competition - before agonisingly bowing out on penalties.
Just two months one from heading in the iconic Scottish Cup winning goal at Hampden, Gray notched another important one on the night and the celebrations that followed still live fresh in the memory.
Gray, whose team face German outfit MSV Duisburg on Wednesday before wrapping up their trip against Dutch giants Ajax in another closed door clash on Saturday, said: 'What are my memories of Brondby? Actually, scoring the goal was great. And it was just a brilliant day - I thought we were fantastic in the game.
'I was fortunate enough to score the goal and I think someone threw a pint over me after that went in.
'I could taste that in my mouth when the fans were celebrating. The scenes after it were amazing. But I know a lot of people that went over in the game, and the fans all talked about the trip and how good the actual trip was.
'We went over there and won on the day. Clearly, we went to extra time and lost on penalties. But it shows the level that we can get to. At the time, Bronby were a top side and still are a topside in Denmark. So I think these are games that you want to look forward to.
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"These are brilliant memories that I was very fortunate to be involved in. When you come to this football club, you've got an opportunity to try and play in Europe and that doesn't come for everybody and I think you need to look forward to that.'
Hibs fans will descend on the Danish town of Herring in good spirits on the back of last season's stunning third place finish in the Premiership.
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The players will relish the challenge of trying to upset the odds, especially in the wake of Midtjylland boss Thomas Thomasberg's boast about coming through the tie with ease.
Gray added: 'It''ll be a really tough draw, but one we can really look forward to. You're always going to get a difficult opponent because of the result of the (Scottish) cup final, meaning we were unseeded. This is the position we find ourselves in. But it's a brilliant one to look forward to.
"It's a really good trip for the fans as well and it's a great opportunity to test yourself against a team that qualified for the Champions League.
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"I know they went quite far in the competition, dropping into the Europa League last year. They've missed out on winning the league by a point so it'll be a tough test, but one that the players should definitely look forward to and one we'll be going into with confidence.
'Ultimately, the ambition is to get into the next round and I've already said to the players, they should relish it. They should look forward to it, and it's a reward for such a good season last season that we want to keep this feel-good factor going.
'You can feel it already around the club, the fan base, everyone looking forward to it when the draw came out. So I think it's a real positive time at the football club and we want to keep that going.'
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Gray is likely to dispatch a member of his staff to watch Midtjylland in their upcoming pre-season games against Dynamo Kyiv and Slovan Bratislava in Austria before the Danes face OB in their first domestic clash just four days before the first leg.
It will be a case of gathering as much information as possible on their opponents.
Gray added: 'They'll be gearing up towards their first league games and their first competitive game is the week before.
'Clearly, we'll do as much work as we do with every opponent. We'll do as much as we possibly can to make sure the players know exactly what they're going into, what they're going to face. We'll have a game plan in place to go over there'.