By Alan Pattullo

Copyright scotsman

David Gray stressed that he was right to warn his players about being lulled into a false sense of security due to Rangers’ troubles as he watched Hibs lose 2-0 at Ibrox. The Hibs manager rued his side’s failure to build on a bright start, during which they had a goal from Martin Boyle chopped off for handball. Any sense the visiting players might be able to take advantage of the toxic Ibrox atmosphere, with protests against Rangers manager Russell Martin and chief executive Patrick Stewart having taken place prior to kick-off, began to fade when Nico Raskin gave his side the lead three minutes before half time. Bojan Miovski added a second in time added on at the end of the first half. Gray accepted that Rangers ran out deserved winners as they booked a place in November’s Premier Sports Cup semi-finals. “My message to the players all week was to try as best as you can to ignore the noise, because all we can control is what we do” he said. “I understood why people would say that (Rangers might be vulnerable) because of the result here last weekend against Hearts and everything else. “But that game (v Hearts) could have been very different when you look at decisions in the game, so Rangers haven’t got bad players. They’ve got a manager who’s been in the Premier League. It’s a big club. Coming along here is still a really tough place to come and win games of football. “I think history tells you that, especially for us, which is why I said we had to be at our very best, regardless of the situation. They (Rangers) might not be at their best, but they’re still good players. They’ve still got a way of playing which is difficult. “You’ve seen that today, they’re very good in rotations and the way they move the ball. It was always going to be a tough test. The disappointment side to it probably shows how far we’ve come as a group, that we are really disappointed that we’ve not got through to the next round of the cup. That shows you measurably how far we’ve come, but I’ve also been quick to remind them that there is still a lot of improvement to come from us as a group.” Gray added that with a difficult away game to come against Falkirk on Tuesday night, his side had little time to feel sorry for themselves. However, he admitted there was some lingering irritation at Boyle’s goal being chalked off given Hibs have found themselves on the wrong end of handball decisions, such as against St Mirren last month after a shot struck Jayden Richardson on the arm. It was later confirmed by the Key Match Incident Panel that Hibs should have had a penalty on that occasion. “I think I’m frustrated, but I’m only frustrated because of the inconsistency,” he said. “I’m not frustrated because of the decision. I think it’s the right decision, because of what we were told, that if a ball hits your hand, and you gain an advantage from that by scoring a goal, that it wouldn’t be given. You can see that it does hit Boyle on the hand. It’s completely accidental. I don’t think he really benefits from it, other than he was running and it hits his hand. “For them to chalk it off is the right decision because of what we were told. My biggest issue is just the inconsistency, which is the word that I’ve used a lot of late.”