Bare midfield set for 'older' boost?
Injuries could see the return of two 'out of favour' players for this weekend's trip to Livingston....

WELL ANOTHER SCOTTISH CUP CAMPAIGN SLIPPED THROUGH the Hibees fingers last week after a 2-0 defeat to holders Rangers and this is something that could prove costly.  Not only in a financial sense but the loss of Grant Brebner with a horrific arm injury which we now hear is a six place fracture rather than the three originally thought is a great loss to the Hibs midfield.  To add to this I will send my best wishes to Grant and I hope to see you back in the green and white soon.

So it’s a return to league duty this weekend as the Hibees travel to the City Stadium or whatever it’s called these days to play Livingston who are currently one point ahead of Hibs in the League.  If Motherwell were to lose on Saturday then Hibs could jump up to fifth place which would take us to four points behind Dunfermline assuming they too lose.  Hibs of course will be without the injured Brebner who joins a now growing injury list.  Brebner now joins Yannick Zambernardi, Roland Edge, Ian Murray and Stephen Glass on the physio’s table and this could give Bobby Williamson a selection headache for Saturday’s game about who should replace Brebner in the centre of midfield.

Alen Orman - set to face Livi again tomorrow?  (sns)

Tam McManus is back in contention for Saturday’s game having been suspended last week for the Cup tie and ill the week before for the league game against Partick Thistle.  Others who could come into Bobby’s mind for a starting role against Livingston are Kevin Nicol who replaced Brebner against Rangers, Alen Orman who has been playing the midfield role in the under 21’s recently and has by all accounts been showing himself more than capable of performing in this role and there was a mention on Teletext’s Hibs pages about perhaps Jarkko Wiss even returning to the first team line up.

The team will have to be on their guard against Livingston with the likes of on-loan striker David Fernandez on the prowl.  He is the main goal threat to the Hibs defence but at the other end Marvin Andrews will be looking out to put a stop to the Hibs attackers while Roddy McKenzie the former Hearts goalkeeper and Livingston’s last line of defence will be looking to keep the ball out of the net against his former city rivals.

Amidst the gloom at the gone Scottish Cup campaign and the loss of Brebner there is a positive move being made in the Hibs camp.  Mathias Doumbe who has become a stalwart of Williamson’s team has been approached with regard to a new contract.  This is good news and Doumbe has been a consistent performer in the Hibs defence and is one that Bobby Williamson will be looking to hold on to and not to lose as Doumbe’s contract expires at the end of next season.

So good luck to the lads as they head off to play Livingston on Saturday and lets hope we take a decent sized support and get behind the lads so hopefully we can be celebrating come 4.45pm and make up for last Saturday’s disappointment!

Grant Brebner has said thank you to the Hibs fans from around the world who have sent good will messages to him via the club and Hibs.net amongst others.  The influential midfielder also revealed that his arm was in fact broken in SIX places after his fall on Saturday.  "The doctors reckoned the arm was broken in four places, but when they actually opened it up they found two other breaks that hadn't shown because of the angle the X-ray was taken at."  Speaking of the messages he's received, Brebner said, "I would also like to thank the fans who have sent their best wishes. My mum showed me the message board threads from the fans websites, where loads of supporters send their best wishes and it is very much appreciated. I never realised I was so well liked!"