'Adversity made Hibs stronger' - Gray
Conference League: Legia Warsaw v Hibernian (agg 2-1)
Venue: Polish Army Stadium, Warsaw Date: Thursday, 28 August Time: 20:00 BST
Coverage: Listen to updates on BBC Radio Scotland Extra & Sounds, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app
Hibernian have demonstrated they deserve to play European football, says head coach David Gray as his players prepare for the Conference League play-off decider with Legia Warsaw.
Gray's team trail 2-1 from the first leg at Easter Road, with a late Josh Mulligan strike ensuring the tie is alive heading into Thursday's second leg.
No Hibs side has reached the group stage or league phase of a European competition.
"It's a brilliant place to be as a football club, one game away, 90 minutes away, knowing that if you go and win the game you will be [playing] group stage football, which hasn't been done before," said Gray.
"That should be all the motivation the players need, to be honest.
"When you look at the coefficients of the teams we have played against, it has been a tough draw, but that's what the players also want - you want to test yourself against the best players.
"It's all part of looking at whether you can you go and play at the next level. I think they've demonstrated we can play at this level.
"We fully deserve to still be in this tie after that level of performance in the first leg.
"It's one 90-minute game now, no excuses. We'll make sure we're fully prepared."
After the boost of Mulligan's late strike last week and additional time to prepare for the game after Hibs' weekend fixture was postponed, Gray is relishing the second leg.
"I'm probably more excited about this leg than I was the first leg, just because you know there's still a lot of football to be played," added Gray.
"It is now a one-off game. Now would I like the scoreline to be different before the game starts? Yes, but football's a funny game and goals change games.
"How we're going into the game, off the back of how we played, I thought there was a lot of real positive stuff in the first leg and we need to take confidence from that.
"There are areas for us to improve, but I'm sure they'll be looking at how they can improve - that's the challenge a coach has got all the time."
Team news
Gray has no fresh injury concerns and says his players are "fresher mentally" after the weekend off because their game against Falkirk was postponed.
Legia will be without Japan forward Ryoya Morishita - who came on as a substitute in the first leg - as the 28-year-old joined Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee on Tuesday.
Jean-Pierre Nsame is expected to keep his place ahead of Mileta Rajovic after scoring his fifth goal in Europe this season in the match in Edinburgh.
