Hibs news: David Gray 'forced to turn to youngsters' as injury concerns mount again

The caretaker manager was already without long-term absentees Christian Doidge, Kyle Magennis, Kevin Nisbet, and Drey Wright while Scott Allan and Chris Cadden will also play no part at Dens Park.

Club captain Paul Hanlon won’t feature after it was revealed he is managing a knee injury ahead of planned surgery in the summer and Demi Mitchell also sat out the weekend’s 1-1 draw with Aberdeen despite making a comeback from injury against Livingston a week earlier.

Gray admitted that he could be without as many as nine players for the penultimate game of the season and would likely have to call on a handful of youth players, but stressed that it was also beneficial giving some of the youngsters greater first-team exposure.

"The under-18s are doing fantastically well this season; they're fighting for the league and doing brilliantly,” he explained.

"They've had a very gruelling schedule as well, at the moment I think they're playing three games a week so they're not training much either.

"Added to that, we're a little bit thin squadwise so there will be a couple in the squad again this week.

"It's a case of if we think they're good enough and if the opportunity comes up. They wouldn't be involved unless we did think that, so it's a good experience for them and one I'm sure they'll look forward to.

"I think the future's bright for Hibs."

Defender Jacob Blaney has been an unused sub on a handful of occasions and was on the bench with his Under-18s team-mate, midfielder Murray Aiken, for the weekend while left-sided defender / midfielder Oscar MacIntyre has also been named in first-team squads.

Midfielder Robbie Hamilton, who scored in last Friday’s 4-0 victory over Celtic Under-18s, was involved in first-team training at HTC on Monday while Scotland Under-17 international forward Ethan Laidlaw made the bench towards the end of the season during Jack Ross’ tenure.

Centre-back Jack Brydon made the bench in the early part of the season but remains contracted to loan side Edinburgh City until the end of the month.