Hamstring injury to sideline Hibs’ David Gray

The player has been a stand-out for Hibs this season despite suffering an unhappy time with injuries. He missed a month at the start of the year as he recovered from a groin operation and manager Alan Stubbs has revealed Gray is set to be sidelined again at a crucial stage of the season.

Describing the player as a quick healer, Stubbs is hopeful he might return sooner than expected. But if the right-back does miss four weeks, he risks sitting out as many as seven league games as well as a Scottish Cup semi-final against Falkirk. “Unfortunately David has tweaked his hamstring and is going to be out for the next few weeks,” said Stubbs yesterday, ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Queen of the South. “We’re waiting on results of the scan but I’d say it’s a substantial one, three or four weeks. It was an innocuous thing. He’ll miss the foreseeable future games but will hopefully be back towards end of the season.”

The manager admitted Gray, who has scored three times in 31 appearances this season, might not see action again until the Championship play-offs. “Possibly, but Dave is one of them that if he has a six-week injury it will be four, if it’s four it will be three,” he said. “He always seems to come back quicker than the norm.” On-loan Dundee United right-back Keith Watson is expected to deputise for Gray while Stubbs confirmed centre-half Paul Hanlon returns tomorrow following injury.

QUIZ: can you name these 16 Scottish footballers from the nineties/ early 2000s?