Owen Bevan Hibs-Bournemouth situation addressed by Nick Montgomery after untimely loan recall

The Cherries defender is injured – but Montgomery admits he may return next season

Nick Montgomery remains open to bringing Owen Bevan back to Hibs next season, even though the defender has had his loan deal from Bournemouth prematurely ended by injury.

The 20-year-old centre-back signed for the Edinburgh club at the end of the January transfer window and was due to join up with Hibs on February 5 following a period on the sidelines. However, it emerged on Friday that Bevan, who did not get a chance to play for the cinch Premiership side, aggravated a thigh problem and is facing a further few months out of action. He will remain with Bournemouth for the remainder of the campaign.

“Owen was about to come and join us, but he re-injured the quad muscle he was rehabbing so unfortunately that could be an eight to 12-week injury,” explained Hibs boss Montgomery. “He’ll go back to Bournemouth which is unfortunate for him because he’s a good young player who I was looking forward to bringing in. But with the squad the way it is now, we’ve got a lot of strength in depth, with Rocky Bushiri coming back (from the Africa Cup of Nations) last week. He’s had his first full week of training so we’re in a good place in terms of the squad.”

Owen Bevan's quad injury resulted in his Hibs loan being cut short.

Hibs are in the process of finalising a tie-up with Bournemouth and Montgomery remains hopeful that Bevan will get a chance to play for his team next term. “Yes, he’s a player we’re definitely keen on bringing to the club so we’ll just monitor that situation,” he said. “Hopefully he can get himself back fit before the end of the season and we’ll definitely keep an eye on the situation.”

Seventh-placed Hibs have a chance to enhance their top-six prospects when they host a sixth-placed Dundee side who are currently five points ahead of them. Montgomery knows his team, who have failed to win any of their last eight league matches, need to starting posting victories in the coming weeks.

“There’s eight games until the split so we know this is a really important game,” he said. “All we can do is focus on ourselves. We can’t focus on where other teams are above us. We’ve had too many draws this season, that’s what’s hurt us. There’s been ups and downs, but right now we’re still in a good position to achieve what we set out to do and finish in the top six, we’re still in the Scottish Cup and we’ve already been to a semi-final. We just need to try and get as many points as possible and give ourselves the best chance of finishing the season strongly.”

Dundee know that a win at Easter Road would move them eight points clear of the Hibees and captain Joe Shaughnessy is eyeing the opportunity to stretch their advantage. “It is always tough going away to Hibs but it is a good chance to show what we are about so we can match them and get a good positive result,” he said. “It is just a chance to go and open up a bigger gap between ourselves and them. At this time of the season you are looking to do that and try to really push on so it is a good chance.

“Any time we have had a couple of bad results, we haven’t gone on a run of bad results where you get dragged down towards the bottom of the table. We have managed to react and get back to winning ways which is probably why we are where we are in the league at the minute. The squad is looking good, we are getting a few players back to fitness and I think you see that with the last couple of results.”