David Gray has provided an update on three Hibernian stars ahead of their upcoming Premier Sports Cup tie against Queen's Park.
Harry McKirdy and Elie Youan were both absent from Hibs' convincing 5-0 away win over Elgin City on Saturday.
McKirdy, who spent the second half of last season on-loan at Swindon Town, hasn't played a competitive game since April but is finally nearing a return to full fitness.
For Youan, it was a case of struggling to recover from illness and the Hibs gaffer expects to see the forward back in action sooner rather than later.
“McKirdy is getting there everyday," Gray revealed. "This one will come slightly too soon for him, but he is days away. He stepped it up in training today so I fully expect him to be available for the weekend.
“Elie Youan is back in training this morning after his illness. He is feeling better, but we just need to see how his body reacts to training and monitor that. Apart from that, the rest of the boys are all fit and ready to go.”
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Meanwhile, Chris Cadden was withdrawn 39 minutes into the opening group stage clash at Borough Briggs, with Gray confirming the 27-year-old will require a scan to determine the extent of his injury.
“Cadds came off early in the game which was disappointing, but we think he has caught that one early enough," he explained.
“We don’t want to take any chances – especially at this stage of the season – so we will get that scanned just to make sure we know what we are dealing with. Once we get the results back we will put a plan in place, but he is positive about how he feels on that.”
Hibernian welcome Queen's Park to Easter Road and Gray is looking forward to walking out in front of a home support for the first time as permanent boss.
He said: "Very much so. It was a real positive performance at Elgin but the attention quickly changes towards tomorrow night.
"It's a quick turnaround but the lads are back feeling positive and we are all looking forward to the game."
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