Hibernian's Home Form Crisis or Opportunity?

Hibernian’s home form is in freefall on paper, but David Gray is refusing to panic.

Five straight Scottish Premiership defeats at Easter Road. No home league win since April. The last team they beat here in the league? Kilmarnock – Tuesday night’s visitors – turned over 3-0 back in the spring.

Since then, the place has not been kind. Hearts have come through Leith twice and left with wins. Motherwell have done the same. Celtic also walked away with the points. The sequence is grim, the numbers stark.

Gray, though, is not buying the idea that Hibs are a soft touch at home.

“Big chance here, two home games to get into this international break in a really strong position,” the head coach said, with Aberdeen also due at Easter Road on Saturday.

He sees performances that the results do not show. He sees a team closer than the table suggests.

“There have been some really positive performances at home. It’s definitely in us,” he insisted.

The run has armed critics with all the ammunition they need. Five defeats. No league win at home since April. But Gray is pushing back at the story those numbers tell.

“You can find a stat to drive whatever narrative you’re looking for,” he said. “I look at them all in isolation, in games. The only stat, the only thing that matters, is that score in the top corner of the screen when it’s on the telly.”

That, of course, is the problem. The score in the top corner has kept going against Hibs in Edinburgh.

Kilmarnock arrive knowing exactly what happened here last time – a 3-0 defeat that still stands as Hibs’ last Premiership home win. Aberdeen follow on Saturday. Two matches, both in Leith, squeezed in before the international break. Two chances to flip the mood.