David Gray to assess new signings before deciding on Hibs attack to face Celtic

David Gray admitted he must tread carefully with Hibernian’s new attackers as he weighs up which of them to unleash against Celtic on Sunday.

The Hibees have recruited four forwards over the past week in Mykola Kukharevych, Junior Hoilett, Nicky Cadden and Kieron Bowie.

Kukharevych featured as a 73rd-minute substitute in last Sunday’s 3-0 defeat at St Mirren, while the other three have only had a few training sessions with their new team-mates.

“With the new signings, we’ll be assessing them to see where they are and work it out from there,” said manager Gray.

“They’re all available but they’re all very different in terms of the stages (of fitness) they’re at. Nicky hasn’t played since the end of last season having been without a club.

“He’s been doing work but he’s only just joined the squad recently so it’s about assessing him, working out where he’s at and seeing how he recovers from training.

“We certainly won’t be taking any chances and pushing people too quickly because it’s a very long season but at the same time we want to be as competitive as we can be.”

Gray is determined to ensure a competitive display from Hibs at home to in-form Celtic as they bid to recover from a calamitous start to their William Hill Scottish Premiership campaign at St Mirren.

“Regardless of who the next opponent is, we need to see an improvement from last weekend, especially the second-half performance,” he said.

“We know we needed to be better and that’s been the full focus this week, to make sure we get a reaction. There’s no better way to do that than to test ourselves in what should be a great game at Easter Road.”