Marquee Hibs signing close to comeback - how long before fans see a fully fit and firing Bowie in action?

If Hibs fans had one shared wish for the start of a new year, it would almost certainly involve seeing Kieron Bowie fully fit and firing on all cylinders in a Hibs jersey. They may not have long to wait.

Assuming no setbacks on his smooth road to recovery from hamstring surgery, Bowie should be available for selection before January is over. Given his lack of game time since becoming the club’s marquee summer signing, with the former Raith Rovers ace yet to make a start, having the Scotland Under-21 star able to contribute will be like having a new player – and an elite talent, at that – on the books.

Bowie, who cost Hibs somewhere in the region of £600,000 when he signed from Fulham during the close season, arrived nursing a seemingly minor hamstring injury that required David Gray to go easy with his new attacking option. Having made a series of substitute appearances for his club, Bowie suffered a serious hamstring injury after starting for Scotland Under-21s back in September.

“When you think back to when he joined us, he'd obviously had a previous injury before,” said Gray, the Hibs boss adding “So we were managing him carefully, and unfortunately that didn't go the way we'd like it to go.

“So as you say we've still not seen a fully fit Kieron Bowie yet. He was probably getting to the point where you would have started to see that just before he broke down.

“But credit to him he's kept his head down, he's kept working hard, and he'll come back even stronger, because that's the type of boy he is.

“And as you say that then becomes another addition, someone we've not had. If we can get him fully fit and firing, which we will, he'll be a real asset to the club.

“Kieron’s back on the grass every day, back involved in training sessions, part training sessions, and integrating him slowly. Obviously, the temptation with him is he's been out for a long time, you want to try and get him back, but that needs to be done as safely as possible.

“He's desperate to get back because that's the type of boy he is. He does absolutely everything right, everything properly, really good professional, and he's desperate to try and get back as quick as he can.”

Op should guard against repeat injury

Although requiring surgery automatically added months to his comeback schedule, the fact that the underlying problem has now been addressed should – should – make Bowie more durable in the long run, Gray saying: “Yeah well, I think that's the idea behind it. Quite naturally once you've had an issue in the hamstring, the risk of re-injury is higher than someone who's never had a hamstring injury obviously.

“But fingers crossed he's had that sort of belt and braces on it now. He's training really, really hard, and he's in a good place at the moment. It's not as if he's playing with it on his mind, he's very much fully focused trying to come back and pushing himself every single day, which is great.

“He’s just involved in a lot of technical drills, pretty much non-contact stuff, that's kind of the first sort of stage you get to, where you start to deal with intensive training sessions, rather than training on your own or in small groups. You get to be around the players, which is good.

“I quite like to get them back in as safely and as early as possible, just to be around. You don't want to push them on too much obviously, but then they need to make sure they're not missing out on the stuff that takes it away from the physical things that they need to do. So he is developing really well, he's in a good place, and long may that continue.”

Marvin Ekpiteta is also on the road back from a thigh injury, the central defender having pulled up in training back in November, although his return is likely to be after Bowie’s comeback, Gray saying: “Marvin’s probably slightly further away, he's probably nearer the end of January just with his injury, which is what we kind of thought it would be. But he's on track, and both Kieron and Marvin are weeks away now, not months, which is great.”