HIBS BOSS HOPEFUL OF FILLING THE BOYLE GAP

Lee Johnson is convinced Hibernian will show they have the bottle to cope without Martin Boyle.

The Easter Road boss has confessed he could not believe the news of the extent of former Dundee winger Boyle’s knee injury – and the theory it has been lurking for up to seven years.

Johnson had been planning for Boyle,

29, being in his Hibs team for the trip to face Rangers on December 15 when the Premiership resumes.

But after the winger underwent surgery in Qatar, where he has remained with the Australia squad, his rehabilitation suddenly stretched from a threeweek lay-off to nine months.

It has been difficult for Johnson to come to terms with, particularly given the talismanic nature of Boyle.

But he insists it is up to rest of the squad to fill the significant void left by the fans’ favourite’s absence.

He said: “When they went in, the surgeon, one of the world’s top surgeons, was originally planning to shave the meniscus and it was going to be a three-week injury.

“So, I’m writing my team on my pad and Boyle is in my team getting ready for Rangers.

“Then we get an email at seven o’clock on Monday morning saying, unfortunately, it is what is it, an eight-to-ninemonth injury.

“It could have been in that contact against St Mirren. I find it hard to believe that it’s an ACL that’s been there for seven years, which it could have been.

“And it’s then been protected by this abnormal meniscus; that is what the experts are saying is their bestinformed guess.

“If they would have just trimmed the meniscus that would have led us to a point where he would come back from the meniscus and then crumbled with an ACL failure because there is nothing there.”

Boyle had earlier revealed the injury that ruled him out for nine months may have occurred seven years ago.

He spoke of how he is trying to cope with his devastating news while trying to get his head around the theory his pre-existing ACL problem could date back as far as 2014-15.