'Tough to take' - Gray reacts to Hibs striker injury blow
Hibs forward Kieron Bowie has been ruled out for at least four months
Hibs boss David Gray has bemoaned news of Kieron Bowie’s injury setback, after it was revealed on Friday afternoon that the striker will be out of action for at least four months.
The 21-year-old picked up a serious hamstring injury while on international duty with Scotland Under-21s, having been forced off in the first half of Tuesday’s 5-0 victory against Malta.
It comes as a huge blow to the youngster, whose minutes were being carefully managed for Hibs due to another hamstring problem sustained at the end of last season.
"It's a real frustrating one from our point of view," said manager David Gray. "He's damaged that hamstring again so he's going to be out for a significant period, which is really tough to take considering how positive a start he made and how we managed his minutes since the start of the season."
Bowie - who joined the Hibees from Fulham in August for a fee of £600,000 - started in both of Scotland Under-21s' qualifiers against Spain and Malta after making just four appearances off the bench for Hibs this season.
But Gray says the club have no issue with U21 manager Scot Gemmill’s decision to play the striker in both games.
"Before he went, the dialogue between us and Scotland was to manage his minutes and look after him, so that happened," he said. "He'd come off the bench a few times for us so he was due to get a start, that was a natural progression.
"We thought it was the right thing for him to go and do but you can't predict what's going to happen. It's really frustrating for everyone."