JAI Quitongo insists he will be gutted to miss this weekend's Ladbrokes Championship clash with Hibernian at Cappielow - but he's relieved that his knee injury isn't as bad as first feared.
Quitongo limped off against Dunfermline Athletic last weekend and was worried that his season might have been over. But after consulting physios, his knee and medial problem should only keep him out for a few weeks if all rehab work goes well.
But the 19-year-old striker isn't worried about putting in the work to get back to full fitness, instead he is hurting that he won't be able to help make amends for the last time Ton faced Hibs - a 4-0 thrashing dished out by the Leithers.
He told the Tele: "With my injury to start with, we all thought the worst. I've went to see the physio and I've still to get another scan but they think I've just overstretched my knee joint and my medial.
"I should only be out for two to three weeks so that's a positive, because we all thought it was a lot worse than it was. I'm just resting it just now and I'll start rehab next week.
"Hopefully I'll try and be back before then, but I need to not rush it and look after it. The swelling has just went down so I'll probably start work again on it next week.
"I'm gutted because I really wanted to play against Hibs. Obviously we lost 4-0 the last time and I think the way we've been playing it'll be a good game. But you never take anything for granted because you never know what can happen. I've ended up injured."
Quitongo insists Morton have the advantage of a home crowd this weekend. The Sinclair Street side are unbeaten at Cappielow this season, and the young forward maintains that his team are full of confidence every time they play on home soil, despite last weekend's blip away to the Pars.
He continued: "Cappielow is a difficult place to come for teams. If we work hard and play how we have been playing we can get a good result against Hibs.
"We don't really speak about [being unbeaten at home] but it is obviously good. If we're playing well with the fans behind us, Cappielow is a very hard place to come. I can imagine it'll be difficult for teams because we've not lost in I don't know how many games!
"So fingers crossed we can keep playing how we're playing and get a result."
With Jai sitting out the next few fixtures, it allows fellow striker Kudus Oyenuga the opportunity to show what he can do up front for Ton. And Quitongo reckons Oyenuga is due a good run of form and that manager Jim Duffy can be confident picking him to do the business in attack.
He concluded: "It's a positive for the team as a whole. Everybody knows at the start of the season the gaffer maybe didn't have the option to pick from too many players, because we didn't have enough players. But now he's got too many players, which can be a good thing for a manager.
"He knows that if someone is injured or out of the starting lineup then there's always someone to come in as back-up. I do believe Kudus can go out there and get a few goals. He's been waiting for his chance - and can go and show everyone now what he can do!"
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