Jack Ross hopes to welcome back Stevie Mallan, Ofir Marciano and Rangers loanee Jamie Murphy this weekend after Hibs suffered a setback in the final game of 2020.
The Hibees lost 2-0 to Ross County, goals from Harry Paton and Oli Shaw giving the Premiership’s bottom side a shock win. Missing in that match were Marciano, Mallan and Murphy as injury problems continue.
Ross says that getting those three back would be a big boost ahead of Livingston’s visit on Saturday: “I think we will look at how the players react because some of them have had a tough schedule.
“We will hopefully have a few more options within the squad because we have been a bit stretched in terms of personnel. So if we hopefully have Stevie Mallan and Jamie Murphy back involved and Ofir Marciano back involved, it just helps us a little bit.
“It gives us more options within the group. You want that competition for places, we’ve had it this season, so once we dust ourselves down we’ll have a look at our options for Saturday.”
Speaking on the game, Ross says he won’t hammer his players for the poor display: “I don’t want point to anything as being an excuse. Ross County were good with what they did within the game and we huffed and puffed a lot.
“We were a little bit off all aspects of our game, our energy levels, our creative spark; we just looked off it. The start of the game was encouraging but I think we got spooked by losing the goal and lost our way a bit.
“In the second half it looked like one of those nights for us in terms of scoring. I don’t want to be dismissive of it but given what we’ve done this season, I think it’s one to move on from and look for a reaction.”
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