Trio of top performers battling to be fit for Hibs v KF Shkendija in Euro qualifier
· John Greechan · 2026-08-05 · nguồn gốc
Hibs UEFA Conference League injury update - latest on key creative players amid European record holder concern
Martin Boyle nursing issue as McGrath, Cadden and Wright updates bring mixed news
Hibs will head into their UEFA Conference League qualifier against KF Shkendija carrying injury doubts over a number of key players – including all-time leading European goal scorer Martin Boyle. But they are expecting attacking midfielder Callum Wright to be back in the squad for tomorrow night’s Easter Road contest.
David Gray has revealed that Jamie McGrath and Nicky Cadden will still be missing from his squad for the first leg their third qualifying round tie with the North Macedonians, although the creative playmakers are closer to recovery from injury. And he revealed that Boyle was nursing an Achilles’ tendon problem which saw him replaced inside the closing 20 minutes of Sunday’s painful home loss to Motherwell.
Fan favourite Boyle trained today
The Hibs boss, trying to sound positive about an injury list headed by long-term absentee Rocky Bushiri, said: “We'll get players back pretty soon. So in 10 days' time, the squad will look very different.
“With Jamie being back, Callum being back, Nicky Cadden being back, and everybody else, if they can stay fit in that period, they should all be back. So, the squad will look very different on that creative side.
“Callum’s trained fully and will be involved in the squad tomorrow. But he's only trained a couple of times. So, we'll just have to see how he goes, as long as he doesn't have a reaction from today.
“Jamie McGrath and Nicky trained today, or part-trained today. But tomorrow will come too soon.
“But, clearly, they're moving in the right direction. If they're already back involved in the group, just part-training today. So they should improve pretty quickly.
“The other real positive stuff was the fact that Ante Suto came on, having not trained very much, to be honest, off the back of his injury, but affected the game (on Sunday) and had no reaction. He's trained fully since then.
“Martin Boyle has had a bit of an issue with Achilles that is responding okay. He's still feeling that a little bit, but trained today.
Miguel Chaiwa ‘fatigued’ in Motherwell loss
“So, we just have to make sure he's not had a reaction from that. So, there's a few, you know, we're carrying a few bruises.
“And then Miguel Chaiwa came off against Motherwell, we've seen him coming off in the game, but he's absolutely fine. He was just fatigued, so he's trained fully since as well.
“So, and this is just the nature of the beast, the quick turnaround. We knew this was coming, that's why you need your squad – to make sure everybody, when called upon, is ready to go.
“Joe Newell also felt he's had a little issue in the warm-up. And felt that it was just a little bit too tight to go and be available for the bench on Sunday.
“Not trained fully since, but not ruled out yet. We're going to give him every chance.
“I think the best thing between now and then was to give it a little bit of recovery time. And we'll build that back up.
“We’re actually doing that round about now. Make sure he comes through that and then we'll test it again in the morning to make sure.
“Certainly not ruled out of the squad at this moment in time. And it's something that we're just managing very closely.”