Hibs Head Coach David Gray will be without his latest signing, Hyeokkyu Kwon, who is ineligible to play against his parent club, however, fellow new recruit Nicky Cadden could make his Hibs debut this weekend.
Speaking to Hibs TV ahead of Sunday’s game against Celtic in the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup at Celtic Park, he said: ““The temptation was there to try and throw him (Nicky) straight in last week. We’re trying to get the players as fit as we can as quickly but safely as well.
“Nicky has benefited from not being involved at the weekend and doing some extra physical work. He has looked brighter in training and has continued to progress every day. He comes into my plans a little bit at the weekend, but we will need to monitor him closely.
“Elie Youan and Junior Hoilett are still out but they are both back on the grass, which is great. They are weeks away, rather than months – that is for sure and they are progressing nicely every day.”
Despite last weekend’s defeat at Easter Road, Gray is confident he will get a reaction from his players at Celtic Park and hopes the magic of the cup can inspire his team.
“Sometimes you can go 10 or 12 weeks without playing them (Celtic) again, so one of the positives to come from this is that we know exactly what to expect.
“We can learn from the things that we can be better at, we have talked about the areas we need to improve on and all those feelings will be fresh in the mind for this weekend. That is the message to the players in the last few days.”
“I have been strong with the players from the very start. When you join this Football Club, there is an expectation and demand to go and win a trophy – that has to be the ultimate aim. There is a genuine opportunity to do it at this Club, but to do that you need to beat the best and that is what we need to try to do this Sunday.
“In a one-off game, with the magic of the cup, there is no reason why we can’t go there and win. But we need to make sure we massively improve on where we were last weekend.”
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.
