Head coach David Gray spoke to the media after Hibs' dramatic 3-3 draw with Aberdeen at Easter Road. Here's everything he had to say...

Can you sum that up, is it exasperation, is it relief, is it elation? 

"Eh, very mixed. It probably is quite hard to actually explain exactly how I'm feeling at the moment. I think one thing I would say is, the atmosphere in the dressing room, the now, the way it feels, the players need to take immense credit because of the situation we found ourselves in this season, so many times, you know, going to go up, then losing two goals, finding ourselves behind, getting back into the game, then going behind again. So one thing that I've just mentioned in reacting to the players there is, their attitude and their character was tested again immensely tonight, and they found an answer right at the very end. So from that point of view, there's a lot of positives to take from it. Then when I start to strip it back and think about the game as whole and how it went, I think it's a game we deserve to win.

"We should have won if we took chances, and we've obviously shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times as well in moments within the game. But it's a point, and I think you can feel that sort of energy at the end at the stadium, that we need to build on that, because when you find yourselves in the position we are, it's a point towards where we need to get to, so we need to quickly dust ourselves down, recover and look forward to Motherwell at the weekend, which will be another tough game."

When that goal goes in for Aberdeen, they're 3-2, 30 seconds left, so many people would be signalling your demise. What was going through your mind? 

"At that moment, the game's still going, so you're thinking, 'right, just go forward.' Right from kick off, so credit to the players for going and doing that. One thing I would have been doing if we didn't get back into the game was coming and answering the same questions again that we've faced a lot this season. So I'm not going to paper over the cracks to say that it's alright because we managed to turn it around in the game. We know that, the players know that, but they need to take a lot of belief and confidence.

"Because of the performance level as well, the effort, the desire from all the players, you can clearly see they care, they're trying, they're doing everything they possibly can and they should take confidence for that because their confidence has been battered a bit recently, and understandably so when you find yourself in the position we are. But again, the message before the game was exactly the same, which is there's no time to feel sorry for ourselves now. We need to address that and then move on quickly to Motherwell.

Do you sense they're still fighting for you? The evidence of that 96 minutes seems to be that they gave you absolutely everything. 

"100 per cent. I even look at the Dundee game, the way we start the game, 100 per cent.That's not a team that's not trying to turn it around, not playing with an effort and desire to try and win. And then obviously we have a poor period, but even second half, for players going down to 10 men again, in that league for that length of time to play with 10 men is difficult. It's never been through a lack of effort. I've already said confidence levels are definitely low, but this will go a long way to boosting that, and hopefully we can build on that quickly."

Do you feel like this could be a turning point? 

"We need to use it as that, 100 per cent. But we don't just think that that's everything all right. Of course not. Again, it's a game where I believe we should have won. So we need to look at the areas in which we've let ourselves down again, of course, accountability on that front. But again, I want to reiterate the point of the character that the players have shown to get back into the game, and it's at least what they deserve from the game."

Did the ref anger you throughout that game? 

"The refs have got a really hard job. I'm not going to stand and... I found it difficult, frustrating, for a number of different reasons. But they've got a difficult job to do, so I don't really want to comment on the referee."

What about the positives that you take from the manner of the goals and the determination? 

"That's the positives. I think we got a slice of luck with the first one, a bit of a deflection. It's something that, you know, especially Joe, he needs to add more goals to his game. So for having that attempt on goal, I think he had a post in the second half as well. I think we had hit the bar as well. The goalkeepers had to make... Well, probably not had to make enough saves for the areas we got ourselves into. But I think, all in all, the players need to take the positives from the game as well and really start to believe again. We will turn this around. If we can keep putting performance levels in like that, this will turn quickly.!"

What message would you give to the fans? Because there seems to be a split. The team's walking out, and there's a whole group of people with banners up saying, sack the board, and shouting their anger and displeasure at what's going on...

"Yeah, listen, I think I've said numerous times when you find yourself in the position we are at the bottom of the league with this football club, it's my responsibility to change that. And I know the fans will always have their views, and I understand the noise, I understand their frustrations because of the position we're in. One thing I would say is they were 100% behind the team tonight. You've seen that right to the very end, and they were a massive factor in getting over the line.

"I think you felt that, and the energy at the end of the stadium, everyone needs to remember that going home tonight to realise how positive the impact that can have. And we need to stick together, because during difficult times that's what's important, that everyone does everything they can to be the best they can and work as close as they can and hard as they can to make it to the turnaround."

David, tell us a bit about Rocky as a character, because he's had to wait for his chance under you and then to pop up with such an important goal like that...

"Yeah, listen, I think I said that after Dundee, you have to credit, I'm delighted for him personally because he's the model professional, which is someone who's not played anywhere near the amount of football he would like to have played, but he trains properly every single day. He gets frustrated because he's not playing, of course he does, but he does everything right and he's waited for his opportunity, and I'm delighted for him that he's managed to pop up and get his goal. He works hard as he can, he goes away on international duty, all the time doesn't play as well as much as he'd like to do on that front as well, but he's constantly available and constantly wanting to play and doing everything right so that when he does get his opportunity he's able to step in and deliver, and I'm delighted for him on a personal note for that.

Is tonight a reminder of how good and dangerous Elie Youan can be as well? 

"Yes, we had moments again tonight where he was really bright, really sharp, obviously difficult to play against because of the attributes he's got, and obviously he's still getting, I remember he had a bit of an injury at the start of the season so he's getting more minutes into his legs now and that can only be a positive for him and for the team. 

He took a lot of stick quite publicly over the weekend and then he comes away with man of the match. Is there a resilience about him that can be overlooked?

Yes, he has, but I think I mentioned the point during the week which was anyone who knows Elie Youa, that's where he's happiest when he's playing. He just wants to play football, he loves it. He's happiest when he's playing and that's what he's interested in, the noise that goes around it. I'm sure it'll be very difficult at times, but that's where he's happiest and you've seen that today, he's really enjoying his football when he's on the pitch.

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Is that a shape we're going to see again? A change of shape today? 

"Sometimes, it was all about, I've said often about being flexible within shape. I think you've seen that tonight even just with the players that we're playing, it gives you that flexibility. That was part of recruitment at the start of the season as well, players that are able to play in different positions so you're able to change within game. We obviously changed within game to have back four tonight at times as well. So that's important to be able to have a bit of flexibility, especially at this level when you come up against such varied opponents every week."

You made a big call with the goalie tonight, what was the thinking behind that? And obviously Jordan, he's had one mistake in football tonight.

"I think I said before the game, when you're not getting results, I've got big decisions to make every single week. I obviously had to make a big one on the goalkeeper tonight, but he also made some big saves within the game, the free kick, he actually makes a save in the first half that keeps it 0-0, which is a huge moment because I think the first game was going to be important for us, confidence-wise, the way the game had been going and the noise around the game. And probably the expectation, not from within, but about where we are at the moment. So that was a big bit of pressure going on in the game. As I would like to say there, credit to the players for keeping going and we got punished for a mistake, but the players were able to turn that around tonight and get at least a point from the game, which we fully deserved at least."