Jack Ross hopes free midweek will allow Hibs injury concerns to go away

Hibs manager Jack Ross is keeping his fingers crossed that a free midweek will allow some of his key players to recover from injuries.

Kevin Nisbet is carrying an injury ahead of Hibs' match with Rangers.

The Easter Road club have just come through a hectic schedule, having had an Edinburgh derby, a home match with St Mirren, an away cup tie Dundee United and a challenging match against St Johnstone all in the space of 14 days.

Hibs have got some downtime before their next match, a top-of-the-table cinch Premiership clash with defending champions Rangers on Sunday, and Ross hopes players such as left-back Josh Doig and striker Kevin Nisbet will be able to recover from knocks exacerbated against the Saints.

“It’s nice," said Ross of the break. “It’s good to have the clear week, it will allow us to nurse some boys back to fitness hopefully and use the time properly for other players as well.

“Josh felt tightness in his hamstring, even prior to the game so we’ll assess him. Kyle [Magennis] was his groin, so we’ll look at it. Fortunately we have a clear week so that might help us.

“But we’ll see where we are over the course of Tuesday and onwards.

“Kevin took a knock, we’re nursing him through games because we are limited with the options we have got in the forward areas.

“We’ll see how he is but I’m sure he’ll be OK. I think a lot of them will be desperate to play on Sunday.”

Hibs will definitely be without striker Christian Doidge, winger Jamie Murphy and midfielder Melker Hallberg, who all have longer-term injuries.