McInnes hopeful injured players will be able to face Rangers

Posted Sunday, February 03, 2019 by PA

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is hopeful both Sam Cosgrove and Joe Lewis will be fit to face Rangers on Wednesday despite losing the pair to injury during a 2-1 victory over Hibernian.

Cosgrove, Aberdeen’s top goalscorer, went off in the 19th minute and goalkeeper Lewis smacked his head off a post while scrambling to reach a Stevie Mallan free-kick.

McInnes, who still expects to be missing centre-backs Scott McKenna and Michael Devlin for the visit of Gers, said: “Joe’s got a nasty gash above his eye but he’s absolutely fine.

“The medical staff felt he was going to have to get it stitched and it was going to take a long time. Obviously, it’s not ideal but Joe seems eager to play.

“He seems fine and I don’t think it’s anything too sinister. We should be experts at concussion with the amount of injuries we have had from that. It was a bit different, I’m hoping Joe will be fine for the game.

“Sam, I think it’s been the consequence of training on hard pitches with the weather. We have been indoor a lot, and maybe even the other night on astroturf at Stenhousemuir, his back just went into a spasm.

“He felt it a bit on Thursday and hopefully it can be something we can work on and hopefully it can disappear as quickly as it came. He certainly feels positive about Wednesday but we’ll see where everybody is.

“He needs a wee bit of TLC and a lot of things to go his way to be ready for Wednesday.”

Aberdeen moved into third in the Ladbrokes Premiership after coming back swiftly from Oli Shaw’s ninth-minute drive.

Andrew Considine headed an equaliser three minutes later and Gary Mackay-Steven netted his sixth goal in 18 months against Hibs on the rebound midway through the first half.

Mackay-Steven had a second-half penalty saved and James Wilson missed two good chances as Aberdeen soaked up some Hibs pressure, with debutant Tomas Cerny only making one save of note to deny Paul Hanlon.

McInnes said: “I thought, for whatever reason, that’s as comfortable as we have been at Easter Road for a while.

“You kept waiting on Hibs throwing the kitchen sink and cranking up the pressure but it never came.

“I know they are a wee bit in between with Neil (Lennon) losing his job but we have had to work a lot harder and defend a lot better than we had to today.”

Hibs caretaker boss Eddie May felt his team could have defended better.

“We started very well and are disappointed to lose the goal three minutes later, one that could be avoided,” he said.

“We have to be fair, Aberdeen have very good quality from middle to front, they are always going to be a danger.

“They were on the move a couple of times, that’s why they got the shots in and the goals. We could have defended a little bit better.”