Hibs backroom staff are anxiously waiting to discover the full extent of the injury to teenager Cody Mulhall who was rushed to hospital after landing awkwardly during Tuesday’s under 20s victory over Dundee United in Arbroath.
The Irish born striker who has been in sparkling form this season received immediate treatment from senior physio Kitty Mackinnon after the incident, and whilst an x-ray on his leg showed no fracture, he is scheduled to undergo a scan today to ascertain whether or not he has sustained ligament damage.
Jason Cummings opened the scoring midway through the first half but United equalised three minutes later through Brian Graham. Euan Smith restored Hibs lead on the half hour mark and James McDonaugh’s youngsters held on for the victory which takes them to joint top of the table with Hamilton.
Some other positives that emerged from the fixture were Danny Handling’s first competitive match for five weeks after a lay-off with a foot injury and Paul Cairney continued his comeback from an ankle problem.
Head of Academy Coaching James McDonaugh admits Mulhall’s injury took the shine off an otherwise positive night for the squad.
He told the Hibernian website: “He was away in an ambulance at half-time which is a disaster for him as he has been absolutely fantastic for us recently and improving his fitness.
“He was on standby for the Republic of Ireland under-19 squad and he has been scoring goals and progressing really well for us.”
“I thought we played really well and I was really happy with the team. Both the performance and also the win tonight, they were excellent. The score aside I thought we were good to watch.
“We played good football and created chances. In some ways I hoped we had scored a few more goals but Dundee United hung in there and gave it everything and held us out.
“The two centre-backs are young and they’ve got a lot to learn but they improved as the game went on. They were playing against Brian Graham who was a target for a lot of Scottish Premiership clubs. Last season he scored a lot of goals for Raith Rovers and Dundee United snapped him up and is a first-team player and the centre-backs handled him quite well.”
The Academy team are next in action this Saturday in the East of Scotland Qualifying League, Section C tie against Craigroyston at the Training Centre (kick off 2.30pm, free admission – donations to the bucket collection welcome).
Hibernian under-20s: Dougie Horne, Fraser Mullen, Callum Crane, Sammy Stanton, Bob Wilson, Tom Gardiner, Danny Handling (David Paul, 65), Dean Horribine, Jason Cummings, Cody Mulhall (Euan Smith, 20), Paul Cairney. Unused substitutes: Kleton Perntreou, Andrew Black, Ryan Baptie, Gareth McCaffrey, Jay Doyle.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
