Celtic may have walked away from Easter Road with all three points, but Hibs boss David Gray made it clear afterwards that the result didn’t tell the full story.
In his view, the game turned on one decisive moment — the early red card that left his side fighting an uphill battle for more than an hour.
Celtic eventually secured a 2-1 victory, with Daizen Maeda opening the scoring before Joe Newell pulled Hibs level just before the break in controversial fashion. The winner came later from substitute Kelechi Iheanacho, but by that stage, the damage had arguably already been done.
For Gray, the sending-off of Jamie McGrath was the defining factor that shaped the entire contest.
“It’s like déjà vu in terms of going down to 10 men again. I thought Celtic started fast, as you would expect, but when you go down to 10 men, after everything I spoke about before the game about giving us the best possible chance to win, it makes it extremely difficult. I can’t defend the red card. It’s not the character and there’s no intent there but it’s a red card because of where the contact is. You want to be in it for the last 10 minutes to have a go, and we did that today. We had a real go at the end and had a big chance. When you get those chances you need to take them.”
That moment came just 20 minutes in, forcing Hibs to abandon their original game plan and dig in for long periods. Despite the numerical disadvantage, they showed resilience, staying organised and even finding a way back into the game through Newell’s equaliser.
At that point, it briefly felt like Hibs might pull off something remarkable. They frustrated Celtic for long spells in the second half, limiting clear-cut chances and keeping the visitors at arm’s length.
But eventually, the pressure told.
Martin O’Neill turned to his bench, and Iheanacho made an instant impact, finding the decisive goal that ultimately settled the contest.
Even then, Hibs refused to fold. They pushed late on, creating one big opportunity in the closing stages that could have changed the outcome entirely, but couldn’t make it count.
That, in many ways, summed up Gray’s frustration.
From his perspective, the contest wasn’t a straightforward Celtic win built on dominance. Instead, it was a match heavily influenced by circumstance, where one moment — the red card — tilted the balance and left his side with too much to overcome.
Celtic will take the points and move on, especially with the title race finely poised. But Gray’s comments underline a different reading of the game — one where the outcome may have looked very different had both teams remained on level terms.