Kevin McBride made it for place on bench in derby

The midfield star has been out of action since aggravating an ankle injury in the opening minutes of the SPL clash with St Mirren more than a month ago. A small piece of bone floating around in his right ankle has been the source of his absence but now the former Celtic, Motherwell and Falkirk player has returned to training having had a special insole inserted in his boot.

Hughes said: "We know exactly what it is, a wee bit of bone which sometimes catches in the joint. He's now had a wee insole put into his boot to raise the arch of his foot and take the pressure off it."

Despite McBride's lack of matches, his manager insisted he'd have no worries about including him in his squad for the visit of Hearts.

Hughes said: "Obviously we don't want to jeopardise all his hard work but Kevin is a fit boy.

"If he is pain-free and we need that experience on the bench then I'd have no qualms about having him there as I'm sure we'd get a good half-hour or so out of him."

Hughes, meanwhile, insisted he wasn't at all surprised by Hearts' recent revival.

Csaba Laszlo's players have clocked up three successive wins to narrow the gap on their Capital rivals, which stood at 18 points only a couple of weeks ago, to just nine, although Hibs do have a game in hand.

The Hibs manager was at Tynecastle to see the Jambos dump Motherwell on Wednesday night, having earlier witnessed their tremendous comeback to beat Celtic a fortnight ago.

He said: "I have always said Hearts will be there or thereabouts. They are keeping clean sheets, winning matches and that takes you where you want to go.

"I've watched them three or four times this season and it is no surprise to me to have seen them picking up the results they've enjoyed recently although I'd rather be where we are. It's best having the points on the board."

Hughes added: "I think we have enough in our locker to win games, to win tomorrow.

"My last words to the boys will be to go out and play our game, let our football do the talking."

Click here to play our Edinburgh Derby predictor