Defenders Doubtful For This Weekend

David McCracken & Garry Kenneth will find out this afternoon if they will make the trip to Easter Road this weekend.

David McCracken missed last Sunday's victory over Saint Mirren with a hamstring strain, but the 25-year-old central defender is still struggling to regain his full fitness and might not be risked by Craig Levein on Saturday.

Garry Kenneth, meanwhile, went off injured in the Saint Mirren win, after landing awkwardly just over an hour into the game.

After challenging for a ball in the air, Kenneth went over on his ankle and had to be replaced by Alan Archibald in the 69th minute, just moments after his side had taken a 1-0 lead thanks to a Noel Hunt header.

Ironically, last week the newspapers were making a lot of the defensive partnership of McCracken & Kenneth, so it was probably fate that something would go wrong so soon after the pair were being talked up so much.

Alan Archibald did ok after coming on to partner Lee Mair in the centre of defence for the last half hour and Craig Levein has admitted he has no worries about starting them both again against Hibernian.

Speaking to the courier, Craig Levein said 'Garry and David are still both doubtful, but I will get a better idea of who will be available later in the week."

"It was good to see Alan do well against St Mirren and he did his chances a lot of good."

So, if McCracken and Kenneth fail to pass a fitness test this afternoon, it will be Archibald & Mair that will be given the job of with keeping high-flying Hibernian at bay on Saturday - no easy task, with the Hibees scoring for fun at the moment, beating Motherwell by an amazing 6-1 score line just a few weeks ago.

Update 30th November: After a successful training session, the chances of both players making this weekends match against Hibs have improved significantly.

The fitnesses of both players have improved and Levein is confident they are both in with a chance of being part of the squad to travel to Easter Road.


He said, "It`s still a bit early to say, but David has to be fairly close by now and Garry`s injury does not seem too serious, so it looks like they at least have a chance."

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