Farid El Alagui is in line to make his first appearance for Hibernian in seven months tomorrow, with head coach Alan Stubbs hoping the striker's return will feel like he has added a new signing to his squad.
The Frenchman ruptured his Achilles tendon in the 2-1 defeat to Alloa Athletic on August 30 and has endured a long road back to fitness since undergoing surgery on the injury in September.
However, the 30-year-old completed his first full match for the club's under-20s on Tuesday, scoring in the 3-2 defeat to Celtic, and will be in the first-team squad that travels to face Raith Rovers in Kirkcaldy tomorrow.
And Stubbs is thrilled to see the summer signing, who netted four times in six games before his injury, finally on the verge of his eagerly-awaited comeback.
He said: "He'll be in the squad this weekend and then we'll decide whether he's on the bench or anything more.
"There's going to be no pressure on him whatsoever. He'll be back and he'll be ready when we get the tell-tale signs from him in training and games, but he's still very much on course with his programme.
"He'll give us something different. He'll give us a different way of playing and a more physical presence up there to what we've got.
"From that point of view I'm hoping it will feel like a new signing.
"It will be a nice problem to have, the fact we've got Dominique (Malonga), Jason (Cummings), (Frank Dja) Djedje and Farid coming back into the firing line. It gives me something to ponder."
Cummings could also make his return at Stark's Park, although his lay-off has been minor in comparison.
The club's top scorer with 15 goals, the 19-year-old suffered the disappointment of missing Sunday's defeat to Rangers and subsequently having to pull out of the Scotland under-21s squad because of a knee injury picked up a fortnight ago against Cowdenbeath.
The teenager, who was freed by Hearts earlier in his career after suffering a knee problem, was sent for hospital tests by the Scotland medical staff after reporting for international duty.
However, Stubbs insists the results have given the marksman the confidence he is able to make a quick-fire return.
Stubbs, who insisted he didn't see the point in contacting SFA head of referees John Fleming this week to query Willie Collum's display in Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Rangers, added: "Jason could be available for the weekend. He did some work on Thursday and we'll see how he reacts to that on Friday. If there's no reaction then he'll train.
"We've been in working in conjunction with Scotland and he went and got assessed by their medical team. They were of the same opinion as us.
"He went for a scan on Monday, more so for peace of mind than anything else. Because of his previous injury on it, I think it was playing games with him.
"And we needed to try and eradicate that so he felt a lot more comfortable, with himself more than anything.
"But the scan showed up minimal injury to anything, so we've let it settle down."
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