Gray confirms Boyle exit and says Hibs star should 'go out on a high'

Hibernian boss David Gray has confirmed forward Martin Boyle will leave the club at the conclusion of this season.

Boyle, who initially joined the club on loan from Dundee in January 2015, has scored 108 goals in 398 appearances for the Easter Road outfit.

"The situation is, he'll be out of contract at the end of the season and he'll be moving on," Gray said. "But what he deserves and what he will do between now and the end of the season, and what he's desperate to do, is to go out on a high, as high as he possibly can.

"That's his mindset just now. And he deserves to go out that way as well for what he's done for the football club.

"I think he's only a couple of games away from 400 games, 100-odd goals. An incredible servant to the club. So that's all on his mind as well, to try and finish on a high.

"Also he's got the carrot of trying to be in the best possible form going into the end of the season with a World Cup coming up, which is something that is a big driving force for a lot of players.

This weekend Hibernian take on Livingston and remain hopeful of catching Motherwell who currently hold fourth position in the table.

Gray says with a European place up for grabs for the team that finishes the season in fourth place regardless of this he only wants to catch the team immediately above them.

"I think regardless of whether European place was for fifth, fourth, guaranteed, whatever, we want to try and catch that team in front of us," he said.

"That's not going to change. We've still got to play Motherwell twice before the end of the season.

"There's nine games to go, 27 points. We're seven points behind. It's well within our capabilities. But at the same time, you are playing catch-up to a team that's in good form.

"I know they lost their last game, but all we can concentrate on is ourselves. And I think that's the driving force.

"Yes, it guarantees it if you finish fourth, but we need to try and catch that team in front of us. So that's not going to change.

"What we've got is this weekend is an opportunity at home against a good side, fighting for their life.

"At this stage of the season there's not a game between now and the split happening, that there's nothing on it. I'd imagine it to go right to the very end of the split.

"There's nobody sitting in sort of no-man's land. Everyone's got something to fight for, which is going to make every game huge between now and the end of the season."