Hibs keeper Ofir Marciano sidelined by knee operation

Ofir Marciano is likely to miss the rest of Hibs' fixtures this year. Pic: SNS

The Israeli is due to have a tidy-up operation to rectify a niggling knee problem. The 27-year-old sustained the injury on international duty a month ago but has been able to play through the pain in recent weeks. However, he will miss tomorrow’s home match against Dumbarton before going under the knife on Monday.

“Ofir is going to be out for a few weeks,” said head coach Neil Lennon. “It is a meniscus problem on his knee and we have already spoken to his club [FC Ashdod] about it. It’s the same injury he picked up on international duty. It’s been ongoing and it’s progressively getting worse. It’s come to the point where he needs the surgery to tidy it up. It’s unfortunate as it’s come at a bad time.”

Ross Laidlaw, who has started seven games since joining from Raith Rovers in the summer, will deputise for the Israeli, with third-choice Otso Virtanen promoted to the subs’ bench.

“We’ll not be bringing in a new goalkeeper because Ofir’s injury is short term and hopefully he will only be out until the end of the month,” said Lennon. “We will just run with the two that we have at the minute. Ross has done well in every game that he has played. He is a very competent back-up goalkeeper but he knows his role within the squad and he will fill in for the time being unless we decide to make a change.”