Gray insists dramatic late equaliser can give his struggling Hibs team the confidence to climb Premiership table

David Gray hailed the character of his Hibs side after Rocky Bushiri salvaged a late point in a thriller that ended with three goals in stoppage time.

And Gray insisted the 3-3 draw with Aberdeen can be a launchpad to lift his side away from the bottom of the league.

Joe Newell had given Hibs a first half lead only for Jamie McGrath and Nicky Devlin to turn the match on its head.

But Nicky Cadden made it 2-2 in the second minute of stoppage time before Ester Sokler scored what looked like a winner for the Dons in the 95th minute. Bushiri then levelled a minute later in dramatic scenes at Easter Road.

‘It’s quite hard to explain exactly how I’m feeling,’ said Gray. ‘The players can take immense credit.

‘Their attitude and character was tested greatly and they responded well. We deserved to win on chances created.

Rocky Bushiri is on hand to force home the equalising goal on an astonishing evening

The Hibs goalscorer is mobbed by delirious team-mates after his late heroics

‘We shot ourselves in the foot again at times. I’m not going to paper over the cracks and say it’s okay because we got a late equaliser.

‘It’s never been through a lack of effort. Confidence levels have been low but this can go a long way to helping that.

‘We need to look at the areas where we have let ourselves down again but the character the players have shown was good.

‘If we can keep putting on performances like that, it will turn around quickly.

‘It’s my responsibility to change it when this team is bottom of the league. The fans were 100 per cent behind the team tonight and they have to understand the positive impact that can have.’

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin felt his players were punished for a lack of concentration after going 3-2 in front in the 95th minute.

Aberdeen boss Thelin was left to reflect on dropping five league points in four days

‘It was an emotional game, a roller coaster,’ said the Swede. ‘We scored a great goal through Ester Sokler to make it 3-2 and there were a lot of emotions in the celebrations with the fans.

‘But the game isn’t over until it’s over. We knew what Hibs would do from the restart but collectively we didn’t deal with it.

‘Angry is the wrong word to use but we were all disappointed in the dressing room at conceding the equaliser that way.

‘We have to learn from it and there were positive things for us tonight, the spirit we showed after being 1-0 down at half-time and scoring three goals away from home.’