Yantorno has made one brief appearance for Hibs in the SPL

Hibernian manager Mixu Paatelainen is shielding Fabian Yantorno from first-team football until he has fully recovered from his serious knee injury.

The Uruguayan midfielder featured as a substitute on the opening day of the season but has not been seen since.

"It is not easy to come back from a lengthy injury such as his," Paatelainen told the club website.

"He was lacking that explosive power and sharpness that he has to get past players and make sharp turns."

After suffering the problem in February, the Uruguayan midfielder was released by Gretna, who could not to afford to fund his rehabilitation.

Hibernian offered the player medical assistance and training facilities and the 25-year-old earned a two-year contract in Edinburgh.

"Fabian played in the reserve game against Inverness yesterday and did well," Paatelainen added.

"Technically, he was fantastic and that never goes away, but you need to work hard to get the power back and the only way to do that is to work really, really hard.

"He remains in the squad but not even being included on the bench because he is working day-in day-out very hard on his explosive side.

"He has done that now for two or three weeks and is looking a different player already - there are signs now that it is coming back.

"We possibly need to wait a little bit longer and then we will get the player that we all know."

Meanwhile, a niggling knee problem is proving frustrating for midfielder Alan O'Brien, who is a doubt for Saturday's trip to Hamilton.

"Whenever Alan rests for a couple of days, it gets better but then when he starts running again it flares up," explained Paatelainen.

"We are examining him at the moment but the scans don't really show us anything.

"The physios are working with him all the time and seeking to find a cure for the problem.

"I don't think it is a big problem, it is a minor one, but we need to solve it soon."