Hibernian receive triple injury-boost ahead of Celtic clash

By David Walton

October 31, 2019

Celtic’s rivals Hibernian have landed a massive triple injury boost ahead of their Betfred Cup semi-final against us on Saturday.

The Easter Road side made it 10 Premiership games without a win as they came back from two down to nab a draw against Livingston. It wasn’t a result that particularly pleased the Hibernian support, but they did show character to bounce back from being two goals down at the break.

Yet, there were plenty of positives for Hibs fans to take away from the game with regards to their team selection.

Paul Heckingbottom will be forgetting what victory feels like (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Scott Allan, Christian Doidge, and Martin Boyle all returned to action with differing success. Both Allan and Boyle managed to score against Livi. Doidge, meanwhile, played the full 90 minutes and had nothing to show for it.

What it means is that all three now look likely to face Celtic on Saturday.

All three were doubts heading into Livingston match

Coming into the game against Livi, Allan was a huge doubt with an ankle knock after limping off against Ross County last weekend. Boyle, meanwhile, hadn’t played in weeks after being injured on international duty.

Paul Heckingbottom rather carelessly threw Boyle back into the mix despite him being out for a couple of months. But in fairness to the winger, he popped up and slotted home an equaliser to throw himself into contention for Saturday.

Martin Boyle is back and available for Saturday (Francois Nel/Getty Images)

Doidge won’t be viewed by many at Celtic as much of a threat. He’s only scored two goals in 13 appearances this season. But regardless of that, he’s Hibs’ first-choice striker and has to be taken seriously.

The quick nature of all three of their returns was a tad surprising. It seems as though Hibs are desperate to have as much fire-power as possible in their ranks for the weekend.

Scott Allan will feel he has something to prove (Ewan Bootman/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Celtic will have to beware of how much the likes of Boyle and Doidge will be itching to impress. Allan, meanwhile, has already hurt us once this season at Easter Road. His absence would’ve been ideal.

But instead it looks like we’re going to be facing an extremely strong Hibs side in terms of squad depth on Saturday. Hopefully, the Hoops rise up to the challenge.