The injury knocks keep on coming for the depleted Tigers
Hull City’s Yu Hirakawa leaves the pitch against QPR(Image: Richard Sellers/PA Wire)
Hull City face an anxious wait to find out the extent of the injury picked up by Yu Hirakawa during Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to Queens Park Rangers.
The on-loan winger had impressed in the contest, creating City‘s equaliser for Joe Gelhardt with a terrific run and cross, but was later forced off with an ankle injury.
It’s understood City will find out the severity of Hirakawa’s problem later this week after a scan, with the worst-case scenario thought to involve surgery, which would rule him out for the rest of the season.
Should the Japanese international not require surgery, then the prognosis for his twisted ankle will likely see him sidelined for around six weeks, joining the growing list of injury absentees.
Either way, Hirakawa will not feature for City until April at the earliest, which comes as a major blow to the Tigers and their quest for promotion.
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That rules him out of Tuesday night’s visit of play-off rivals Derby County, along with games against the likes of Ipswich Town, Wrexham, Millwall, plus the pivotal Easter weekend against Coventry City and Oxford United.
City will have discussions with his parent club about the best course of action, depending on the outcome of the scan results and what it means.
Throughout the season, boss Sergej Jakirovic has been plagued by injury problems to his key players, and this latest setback comes at a time when the Tigers have found themselves in their poorest run of the campaign so far, with two defeats and a draw in their past three league games.
Meanwhile, Charlie Hughes is expected back to face the Rams, and there could be a welcome return to the squad for Matt Crooks after his hamstring issue.
Semi Ajayi, Toby Collyer and Eliot Matazo are nearing returns, while Mo Belloumi is still set to be out until April with the hamstring injury he picked up on Boxing Day at Sheffield Wednesday.
“He (Yu) obviously came off (against QPR) and he was in a lot of pain, had a swollen ankle, and had the boot on after the game. It was so innocuous what happened, wasn’t it?, assistant boss Dean Holden told Hull Live on the eve of the clash against the Rams.
“He sort of stood on the lad’s foot and just rocked his ankle over, so he’s going to see a specialist tomorrow (Tuesday). He’s a loan player, so what that looks like beyond that we’ll have to see. I’m sure the club will have discussions with Bristol City around what that looks like from a physio point of view, but we’re just waiting on it (the scan). There’s no real time limit on it just yet. He’ll be out tomorrow.
“Charlie (Hughes) is (back), yes. He spoke with Sergej going into the last game. He’s only really had a light training session or two and just didn’t feel it was quite the right time to put him in from the start of the weekend, but no, he’s fine.
“Crooksy’s (Matt Crooks) got a good chance. He might be in the squad tomorrow night. He feels good and looks fine. I think we’ll wait and see on that one again with a period of time now before tomorrow’s game.
“Semi (Ajayi) is going well, but again, not back in the team training just yet. Toby’s (Collyer) a little bit behind Semi. He’s still doing some individual rehab.”
There’s also positive news on the imminent return of Eliot Matazo from his ACL injury. The Belgian midfielder is back in training and will be given minutes in the Under-23s to build up his fitness, but his return is a big boost.
“Eliott’s (Matazo) been in and around team training for the last couple of days,” Holden continued. “It’s been a long-term injury, it’s a period of time, non-contact, and just finding his feet, literally. It’s building up his training fitness. He’s been away for a period of time, but he’s moving in the right direction.
“I think we’ll be pretty much where we were, in terms of the squad. It looks like a couple of lads are not far away from joining back into team training now that they’ve been out for a period of time, so that’ll be a bonus when they get back in, but we expect a similar type of squad.”
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