CHRISTOS KARIPIDIS knows the injury he suffered in the first minute on Saturday might rule him out of next weekend's derby clash – but he insisted it was worth playing through the pain barrier.
The big Greek took a knock to his right ankle just after kick-off and hobbled into the press room on crutches after the game with the joint clearly painful and swollen.
While he admitted he had suffered great discomfort throughout the game after t
aking a kick in the opening seconds, he stressed that limping off before the final whistle was never an option.
The Jambos went into the game minus Marius Zaliukas and Lee Wallace after both defenders were sent off against Aberdeen last week, and Karipidis was determined not to restrict their options even further.
Karipidis is almost certain to miss Wednesday night's clash with Motherwell and faces a race against time to be fit for the trip to Easter Road next Sunday, revealing: "I got hurt in the first minute of the game, I took a bad kick and it was very painful throughout the rest of the game.
"But I did not want to lose this game and I knew that already we had some players out because of suspension, Zaliukas and Wallace were both missing and I did not want to be out as well.
"I think that I will miss the game against Motherwell on Wednesday night and then we will have to see what happens for the next derby.
"My ankle is swollen and sore so I will have to wait until the swelling goes down."
The defender was left frustrated by the number of missed chances his side had, hitting the woodwork on several occasions, but he is hopeful that they can convert their opportunities when they travel across the city for the Homecoming Scottish Cup match with Hibs this coming Sunday.
And he added: "We hit the cross bar two times and I thought that we created a lot of chances, but if you don't score them then you can't win the game.
"I think that they maybe only had one or two chances.
"It is positive for us that, although we could not score, we still managed to create a lot of chances and that is important. If you cannot win the game then the next most important thing is that you do not lose.
"It was a typical derby game, we wanted to win it for our fans but we just could not score the goals from the chances that we created. In the first half we had very good chances but in these kinds of games it is very important that you get the first goal and it just did not come for us.
"We didn't score but we had a lot of chances, hopefully we can change that in the next game."
Meanwhile, Hibs new boy Jonatan Johansson admitted that it was great to be back in Scottish football, although he conceded that he is still some way short of match fitness.
The Finn made his first appearance for the Easter Road side since joining them from Swedish outfit Malmo at the end of their league season and managed to play the full 90 minutes, despite not having played a game in a couple of months because of injury.
He's had three weeks of intensive training at East Mains and Hibs may organise a bounce game for him at some point this week if possible to further improve his fitness in time for next Sunday's rematch.
He said: "It is good to be back in Scotland and it was an exciting game to come back to, there were a lot of chances for both sides.
"For the game to finish 0-0, I thought that it was a very good game and I enjoyed the atmosphere very much.
"I felt good but I got a little tired towards the end and I maybe did not manage to attack as much in the final 15 minutes of the game.
"I have had only three weeks of training and I am feeling good but I know that I am not fully match fit.
"I want to play as much as possible for Hibs, there is a big squad but that is good for us because there is always competition for places.
"I want to be in Mixu's best starting XI as much as possible this season."
