Mowbray eyes further improvement

ALAN PATTULLO

TONY Mowbray yesterday stressed that he cannot worry about the nature of Hearts’ threat while his own team is still in the process of being nurtured.

The Hibs manager leads his young side into tomorrow’s derby at Tynecastle on the back of an eight-match unbeaten run and they appear to be in better fettle than their opponents, who yesterday confirmed striker Mark de Vries would be missing from the showdown.

Mowbray is not wasting time thinking about his opponents, reasoning that if his own side play to their potential then it should not matter who is playing for Hearts or who is not. The Tynecastle side, he added, have done enough over the past few seasons to earn respect whatever the nature of the team drawn up by head coach Craig Levein.

"I have been here for four months now and I was looking at a league table from the end of last season this week and we finished 24 points behind Hearts last year," Mowbray said. "All I can do is try and squeeze the most juice out of this football club, and improve things gradually. In six months’ time I hope we have a better team than we have at the moment and a year down the line I hope it’s better again.

"I have to work with my team and prepare them as well as I can," he continued. "Some managers prepare their team to stop the opposition. This is not something I over-emphasise. I know if we do our job right we can give most teams some problems."

Thoughts of De Vries have clearly not exercised Mowbray’s mind too completely, however. His absence from the game was treated with indifference by the straight-talking Easter Road manager.

"I don’t know too much about Mark de Vries to be honest, "he said. "People have told me he’s scored a few goals against this club over the piece, and he came on and scored with his first touch against us in the Festival Cup. Apart from 20 minutes that day I have not seen too much of him. I just have to concentrate on preparing my own team."

Scotland drew their final qualifying match of the UEFA Under-17 Championship 1-1 with Israel last night, Rangers’ Jordan McMillan scoring. The result ensured both sides progress to the next round.

Taken from the Scotsman