Mowbray relishing return of action

The Hoops' last defeat at Tannadice was a 2-1 loss in the SPL in August 1999.After drawing 3-3 at Falkirk in their last outing a fortnight ago the Parkhead boss is hoping to get back on track at a happy hunting ground.Asked about Celtic's record at Tannadice, Mowbray said: "It's a statistic - let's hope it runs another 10 years!"We are looking forward to getting back into league action again."Sunday can't come quick enough and we are ready to go, so let's hope we find a level of consistency over the next three or four months."Mowbray has a few injury concerns but will not allow that to distract attention from his side's bid to retain their place at the top of the SPL.The former Hibernian and West Brom boss said: "It's as reported, we have one or two people out, but we just get on with it - no excuses."Scott Brown, Artur Boruc and Shaun Maloney are injured, Stephen McManus is suspended and Glenn Loovens trained today, so we will wait and see how he is."If Loovens does not recover from his groin injury, it could well mean a debut for 18-year-old summer signing from Stockport, Josh Thompson.When asked if his young stopper would be ready, Mowbray responded: "He'll have to be!"United keeper Nicky Weaver admits he used to just blindly put Celtic and Rangers as bankers on his coupon every week.But after getting a first-hand taste of Scottish football he now believes the day when someone outside the Old Firm wins the SPL title is edging closer to reality.Weaver, who joined Dundee United on a short-term deal until January to put himself in the shop window, will return to England early next year full of praise for the Premier League.He said: "From the outside looking in, people in England took notice of the Rangers nine-in-a-row side because they had a lot of English players."And obviously Celtic were big news too when they had the likes of Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton."Like most folk down south you just put them on your coupon every week because you expected them to win."But it's not like that now and from what I've seen up here the gap between the Old Firm and the other clubs isn't what it used to be."In fact, I don't think it's impossible to think that someone other than Celtic or Rangers could win the title in the next few years."A while back that was impossible but I think that although they will always have more resources than everyone else, someone could come through there and do it."At United we're a bit away from doing that right now but we're making progress and there are other teams - such as Hibs for example - who are also moving in the right direction."Although his stay at Tannadice is counting down to a matter of weeks, Weaver has experienced enough in the game to know being patient will pay off.He said: "I've still got plenty of time to get things sorted out."January is another six weeks away and while that's not a long time, in football it is."All it needs is someone to get injured or transferred elsewhere and a chance will open up again."I won't rush into it. I've been playing regularly and hopefully that has made people take notice, so we'll see what happens."

Source: Team_Talk