David Gray has confirmed Hibs striker Mykola Kukharevych could miss the next couple of weeks with a groin injury.
The on-loan Swansea forward sustained the problem against Celtic on Saturday, a game in which he missed two glaring one-on-one opportunities in the first-half.
Hibs went on to lose 3-0 as they rued the chances spurned by 23-year-old Kukharevych. He’s been a central figure under Gray this season, but he’s now set for a spell on the sidelines.
Kukharevych is awaiting scan results to reveal the extent of his groin problem and Gray admits he faces a race against time to be fit for the Edinburgh derby against Hearts on December 26.
Hibs striker Mykola Kukharevych injured
As quoted in the Edinburgh Evening News, Gray said: “We’ve sent Myko for a scan, so just waiting on the results of that. There’s definitely something there, which is a blow, but hopefully it’s just a couple of weeks rather than months.
“I think it’s more likely to just be a couple of weeks. But we’ll just wait and see where that is. I think the likelihood of it will just be two weeks, he’s improving every day on it, which is a positive.
“So, definitely something there, which is a blow, but hopefully it’s just weeks rather than months. Maybe just the two games?
“Two, potentially three at most, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Until we know the full extent of it, we can’t really tell much more.”
Who do Hibs have to replace Kukharevych?
Gray does have options to replace the crocked Ukrainian, veteran Dwight Gayle being the obvious stand-in.
The Hibs boss said: “You’ve still got Gayley who can play there, obviously, who’s getting fitter every day. He came on and affected the last two games as well.
“So you’ve still got Dwight Gayle, Elie Youan can play there, Martin Boyle, Harry McKirdy, Josh Campbell, Rudi Molotnikov.
“But probably the only real recognised one that’s an out-and-out nine who could play himself potentially would be someone like a Myko or a Gayle type.
“I know Harry’s done it previously, but the other ones are probably maybe better suited to a two or a front three.
“So there’s just different variations in which we can do. We’ve still got a lot of attacking threats up there that we can just tweak to make sure we get the best out of them.”