By John Greechan

Copyright scotsman

Grant Hanley has credited Hibs with helping him extend his international career as he eyes World Cup qualification in a potential farewell campaign for Scotland. And the veteran centre-half has identified a key dressing-room quality that will get David Gray’s men back on track after a missed opportunity at Ibrox. Hanley was left disappointed by yesterday’s 2-0 away loss to Rangers in the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup. But the summer signing has credited Hibs with building an unbreakable team spirit through recruitment and coaching under gaffer David Gray. The former Newcastle, Norwich, Blackburn and Birmingham City centre-half turned in a stunning Man of the Match performance for Scotland as they kicked off their World Cup campaign with a battling draw against Denmark in Copenhagen earlier this month. With the clock ticking on his international career, he’s grateful to Hibs for helping him grab some extra time in Steve Clarke’s squad. “Yeah, definitely,” said Hanley. “Like I said at the time, part of the decision coming here was trying to keep my international career going. “There’s maybe not too much time left at that level, so that was part of the decision making. It’s an honour every time you get to be involved with Scotland – and I’m just grateful to be given that opportunity off the back of coming here. “I’m still really enjoying it, yes. It’s clear to see that I’m coming into a dressing room that’s full of good, humble, hard-working lads with loads of ability that want to go and do well. To be a part of that is really good. That’s what you want as a player. “That’s the kind of dressing room you want to be involved in. It’s nice to be part of that. The lads will be continuing to work hard to carry that on.” Hang around football long enough and you’ll hear a thousand players rave about the “great bunch of lads” in every dressing room all over the world. But Hanley’s experience at the top level tells him that not every group boasts the same bond. “No, definitely you can’t take that for granted,” he said, adding: “It’s clear here that the club have taken time to bring in the right people at the right time. And you can feel that in the dressing room. “You don’t get that everywhere. That’s not a given. The club have worked hard to create that sort of environment. “Like I said, you can see it a mile off. And being in the dressing room, you can certainly feel it.” Reflecting on a game that saw Hibs take an early lead, only for Martin Boyle’s goal to be disallowed after a VAR review for handball, Hanley admitted that the visitors had felt “a bit of expectation” to win at Ibrox, given the crisis engulfing Rangers and their manager, Russell Martin. But losing two goals just before half-time was a body blow for Gray’s men. “I think obviously there’s been a lot of noise around the fixture and probably we felt a bit expectation coming here,” said Hanley. “But we were under no illusions of what we were coming into. “We know it’s playing against a side with loads of quality and granted they’re going through a difficult time. But we knew what we were up against. “We felt reasonably comfortable in the first half, they never really created much. We had one or two big chances, obviously a disallowed goal as well, it’s a big swing “I don’t know what that’s like (the Boyle goal), I’ve not seen it back yet. We felt it was harsh at the time “Like you say, you come to a place like Ibrox, you need things to go your way. “Again, from what I’ve seen it looked harsh, but that’s the way it is at times. Again, we had a couple of other chances in the first half where we could have made the nicked goal, but then again, we’re disappointed with the nature of the goals that we conceded. It’s a set play and when that goes in, you’re thinking get to half-time and regroup, we’ll go again. “So to be going out 2-0 down to half-time, we really felt it knocked the wind out of us. We never really created enough second half.” Pressed on whether Hibs might need to adapt their mind set to deal with expectations of victory at even the toughest venues, Hanley admitted: “That’s a difficult one to answer, really. I think as players, you try and block out as much of the outside noise as you can and focus on being professional and the task at hand. “Like I said, we were under no illusions about coming into here. Granted, they’re going through a tough period, but we knew we needed to be at the top of the game to get a result. And we weren’t there really, hence why we’ve not got the result we wanted. GET THE LATEST HIBS NEWS DIRECTLY TO YOUR EMAIL INBOX WITH OUR FREE NEWSLETTER SERVICE “As player on the pitch, it’s hard to really … Coming off right after the game, it’s still raw, and it’s hard to really analyse the reasons for losing goals at the minute. But maybe something we’ll look at, and I’m sure the coaching staff will leave a stone unturned in terms of the details of that. “But I think as players, and particularly as defenders, you pride yourselves on being difficult to beat and difficult to score against. So that’s certainly something that we’ll be able to improve on.” The great variety of Scottish football is evident in this week of contrasts for Hibs, who head to Falkirk for a rearranged league game on Tuesday night before travelling to Celtic Park on Scottish Premiership business next Saturday. “I think that’s the beauty of football at times,” said Hanley. “After a disappointing result, you quickly get a chance to put that behind you and go again. “So we need to recover. I’m sure we’ll debrief this and take what we need from it and get prepared for the day to go again. “Tuesday night is another important game for us. And then we got to Celtic next week “It’ll be another totally different challenge, and one we’ll be looking forward to. But like you said, Tuesday night first.”