Dons boss Derek McInnes is ready to turn to Tommie Hoban to strengthen his defence after Scott McKenna’s injury.

Centre-back McKenna is expected to be sidelined for the rest of the season with a torn hamstring suffered in the 2-0 Scottish Cup defeat of St Mirren on Saturday.

On confirmation of Scotland international McKenna’s long-term absence, McInnes contacted Hoban.

The free agent has battled back from surgery on a cruciate ligament injury suffered while on loan at Aberdeen last February.

Republic of Ireland cap Hoban is back training and was released by Premier League Watford last summer.

McInnes has invited Hoban to train with Aberdeen and if he can prove his full fitness it is understood a deal will be offered to the 26-year-old for the rest of the season.

McInnes said: “We have since spoken to Tommie on the back of Scott’s news.

“His circumstances have changed as he is starting now to get a bit of football training wise.

“We have offered that invitation to come back up.

“We are hoping Tommie takes us up on the opportunity to come up to train and chat with us.”

Hoban sustained damage to his anterior cruciate ligament in Aberdeen’s 2-2 draw with St Mirren on February 16 last year that required surgery.

The defender was ruled out for the whole of the 2017-18 season having suffered a cruciate ligament injury during pre-season with Watford in summer 2017.

The injury suffered on loan at Pittodrie was to the other knee.

Leyton Orient are reportedly keen on landing Hoban.

McInnes is eager to strengthen defensively following confirmation McKenna has suffered a serious hamstring injury.

It was hoped McKenna would only be out for a month but a scan confirmed the injury was more severe than anticipated.

McInnes said: “We weren’t expecting it to be anywhere near that significant.

“We were bracing ourselves that Scott would be out for the next four games and probably miss the Scotland Euro play-off.

“Then be back after that for a couple of games and the Scottish Cup semi-final.

“I got the news on Monday when I was travelling back from the development game and it was the worst possible news.

“It is a real blow for Scott to miss what in all likelihood will be the rest of the season.

“However, you can never tell as some boys are different and Scott has traditionally been a good healer.

“We will still try to remain positive, but that type of injury would normally take three to four months, so he is up against it.”

McKenna suffered an unusual injury where the tendon detached completely.

It is identical to the injury suffered by Funso Ojo in September that ruled the midfielder out for three months.

McInnes said: “To have the tendon come away and detach is unusual and we have had two of almost the exact same injury.

“It is almost like for like with Ojo’s and a similar mechanism to how they did it.

“A little nudge in the top of the back maybe disrupted their running pattern and put that extra stress on the hamstring.

“It is really unusual to get that injury to two players in one season. In a season where we have had umpteen injuries.

“It is not so much the number of injuries but the significance of them and how serious a lot of them have been.”

Defender Jack Mackenzie has been called up from the development squad for tonight.

Midfielder Craig Bryson will not be risked on the Rugby Park artificial surface and Dean Campbell is suspended after a red card in the 2-1 loss to Ross County.

McInnes said: “Bryson won’t play on the Astroturf.”