HIBBO'S ROAD TO RECOVERY

Tony Hibbert will be a regular at Finch Farm this summer.

The defender is rehabilitating the knee ligament injury he suffered in the penultimate game of the season at Arsenal.

His knee is currently in a brace to avoid any further problems, and the academy product will step up his recover over the summer, with the target being a return for the 2008/09 season.

Hibbert told evertonTV:  “Halfway through the second half I felt something different in the knee. I’d done it a couple of years ago when I was younger, and this time it didn’t feel that bad and I just thought I’d tweaked it.

“As soon as I did it, I shouted to the bench that I’d opened the knee up. I felt it a couple of times, but it wasn’t as bad as last time so I didn’t think it was any worse.

“But when I got the results of the scan it was obvious it was a bad one.

“There’s no good time to do it, but it’s better to have done it at the end of the season. It’s a pain, but it’s one of those things.”

The blow meant Hibbo had to watch Everton's last-day win over Newcastle from the stands.

“We deserved fifth," he declared. "It’s not like we were worrying about it, there was obviously pressure, but we had confidence we could do it.

“I think it’s been a great season and we’ve bonded even more. It’s shown what we can do and hopefully do again next season.

“We’ve stabilised in the league and it’s a big achievement to just be underneath the top four. Now we want to go on and win some silverware next year.”

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