Murray bids to be ready for Rangers

Hibs skipper Ian Murray was today set to step up his bid for fitness by returning to action in a bounce game against Celtic in Glasgow.

Murray has been absent from the first-team for six weeks due to separate hip and back injuries, last featuring at the end of October in the 4-1 Scottish Communities League Cup defeat to Celtic at Easter Road.

After undergoing a hip operation last week for a long-term on-and-off problem, Murray trained at East Mains this week and aims to make his first-team comeback against former club Rangers on Saturday lunchtime.

The 30-year-old played in two closed-door friendly games last month and will be keen to impress new boss Pat Fenlon.

Meanwhile, Fenlon’s predecessor, Colin Calderwood, has admitted his disappointment in his 49-game reign at Easter Road. Despite his record of just 12 wins in 13 months at the helm, the former Scotland international, who has been appointed assistant to Chris Hughton at Birmingham City since leaving Easter Road, has said the current Hibs squad is good enough to make progress.

“I didn’t achieve the success I wanted at Hibs,” he said. “I am disappointed in myself that I couldn’t give them the results they deserved because I certainly believe in the players.

“It was not really about not having time because we live in the present and I should have had better results this season, without a doubt. We shot ourselves in the foot once or twice, but I can see beyond this and I know that group of players is good.

“I know there are players there that people will know a lot more of in the future and they are just progressing at the minute. We didn’t progress at the rate to get the results required at Hibs. But, it is the right foundation for that club which is run in the perfect way.

“The structure is absolutely spot-on and that is the one regret, that I haven’t given the supporters the type of success they’d expect.

“If I’m honest, I don’t think that it was going to start this season but it was growing.”