Hibs face striker crisis

HIBS boss Tony Mowbray today admitted he was sweating over the fitness of striker Chris Killen with the Hampden showdown against Hearts just six days away.

The New Zealand star limped out of the action as Mowbray's side went down yet again to Inverness Caledonian Thistle and was immediately rated in the "doubtful" category for the Tennent's Scottish Cup semi-final.

Killen was in for treatment yesterday and, although Mowbray is grateful for the extra 24 hours granted by a Sunday match, he'll face a striking crisis if the former Manchester City and Oldham Athletic star misses out.

Leading scorer Derek Riordan is suspended while recent signing Paul Dalglish is cup-tied having played in the competition for Livingston before his January transfer and, of course, Garry O'Connor is now plying his trade in Moscow.

That would leave Mowbray with only 19-year-old hitman Steven Fletcher and Amadou Konte, who has been unable to command a place in the starting line-up since arriving from Cambridge a year a year ago, to face the SPL's meanest defence.

However, new signing Abdessalan Benjelloun could stake a late claim for a place in the squad when, as expected, he dons a green and white shirt for the first time in tomorrow night's reserve match against Caley at Easter Road. The 21-year-old has returned from Morocco where he was tidying up paperwork following the granting of a work permit in this country and Mowbray said: "Benji has just returned so we'll see how tired he is and what his thoughts are. We'll be putting out a very young team tomorrow night so we'll probably stick him in and see how much of the ball he gets."

Returning to the subject of Killen, Mowbray admitted it would be a major blow to lose a striker who had scored four goals in five starts before the weekend's match. He said: "He has to be a doubt for the weekend but we'll have to wait and see."

Mowbray is hoping time will also be the cure for midfield star Michael Stewart who, like Killen, made an early departure on Saturday, suffering again from the foot injury which forced him to miss the Motherwell match. And while midfield terrier Scott Brown continues to recover from his broken leg, Mowbray admitted he, too, was a doubt for Sunday.

He said: "Whether the weekend comes too soon for Scott I don't know. He'll have to be training by later in the week but, as I have said before, we won't be taking any risks with him."

Taken from the Scotsman