Hibernian manager David Gray admits the return of forward Kieron Bowie following a lengthy injury lay-off added gloss to his side’s 3-0 Scottish Cup victory over Clydebank.
The striker, a £600,000 summer arrival from Fulham, climbed off the bench in the 63rd minute to make his first appearance since suffering a recurrence of a hamstring injury while on Scotland Under-21 duty last September.
Bowie had only managed four substitute outings before that setback as he built up his fitness and Gray is hoping the 22-year-old is now ready to kick on.
Gray said: “It’s great to get Kieron on. When you’ve had a long-term injury you have to keep battling in the gym to get back and days like this are why you go through the pain in the gym.
“It’s great to see him back. There’s still a long way to go but at least there’s light at the end of the tunnel and he’s affecting games.
“He gives us a different way of playing. He’s big and physical and is suited to playing Scottish football.
“You saw that from his cameo performances earlier in the season. He just needs to keep progressing and if we can get him to a level we think he can reach he will be a big asset.”
Gray also gave 16-year-old left-sided player Lewis Gillie his senior debut from the bench.
He added: “The icing on the cake was Lewis getting on and doing really well. I thought he was excellent and it’s a day he’ll always remember.”
Hibs were in control before Bowie’s introduction after Martin Boyle opened the scoring after just 90 seconds against the West of Scotland Premier League leaders.
Rudi Molotnikov made it 2-0 a minute after the restart before Boyle added another in the 59th minute.
Gray added: “It’s job done. We started really well scoring early then it was full credit to Clydebank.
“To lose a goal in the first minute, it would have been easy to throw the towel in.
“They worked hard and their fans were fantastic. We knew that would be a challenge because it was their cup final.”
Bankies boss Gordon Moffat, whose team had not played for over a month, would have liked to have rewarded his side’s fans with a goal.
He said: “We take a bit of pride in it.
“The timing of the goals was frustrating. We lost them at key times and gave us a difficult situation.
“We lost the early goal but we built into it and got some confidence. My regret is we didn’t give our fantastic fans that big moment with a goal.”
