Hibs' Brown will not get derby start

HIBS boss Tony Mowbray today insisted he won't risk Scott Brown in Saturday's final derby after the Scotland midfielder made a surprise return in a reserve match.

The Easter Road star stepped off the bench for the final 20 minutes of a 2-1 victory over Dunfermline at East End Park yesterday afternoon, raising hopes he could face Hearts this weekend.

But today Mowbray revealed he believes the best the 20-year-old can hope for is a seat on the bench having been out of action for almost ten weeks with a broken leg.

While delighted to see Brown return, Mowbray urged caution saying: "He's only had four or five days' training after being out so long so we will have to wait and see.

"I'll have a chat with him tomorrow and if he feels all right then we might stick him on the bench. If he feels he needs another week's training then that's what we will do.

"There's no need to rush him back as we have other important games from which we want to take points and we'd rather do what is right than play him for one match and lose him for the others."

Mowbray also took the opportunity to clarify exactly when Brown suffered his injury, the player having taken a heavy tackle from Hearts' Julien Brellier only minutes into the last SPL derby at Tynecastle on January 28.

Although he tried to play on Brown was forced to quit before half-time. He returned the following week to face Rangers at Ibrox when he took another knock in exactly the same place.

Whether Brellier's tackle caused a weakness can only be a matter of conjecture but Mowbray today insisted it was felt the break occurred in the Rangers clash.

He said: "We had his leg x-rayed after the Hearts game and everything was fine but it was scanned again following the Rangers match and there was a break so we believe that's when the break happened."

Dean Shiels, a surprise substitute against Celtic, played in yesterday's reserve match at East End Park, as did Antonio Murray, who continues to recover from his long-term back problem, as Hibs reserves clocked up their seventh successive match without defeat.

Taken from the Scotsman