MIDDLESBROUGH’S Kevin Thomson is set to put his injury heartbreak behind him and could soon return to the first-team squad, according to manager Tony Mowbray.

The midfielder joined Boro from Scottish Premier League giants Rangers for £2m in July 2010, but the Riverside faithful have not seen much of him, as the playmaker has spent most of his time on Teesside in the treatment room.

The Scotland cap had had two serious knee injuries prior to arriving at Boro but passed a medical with flying colours, only to fracture his fibula in his second appearance for the club.

He bounced back towards the end of last season and showed why Middlesbrough had splashed the cash on him in the first place, only for a freak injury on a treadmill to force him back on to the sidelines at the start of the current campaign.

However, his rehabilitation is drawing to a close and Mowbray admits that a return to first-team action will soon be on the cards for the midfielder whom he helped developed while in charge of Hibernian.

He said: “I think Kevin Thomson is close to making a return. He’s trained with us this week. He’s fine and there’s no injury scenario with him.

“It’s just a case of building him up. If you put it into perspective, he’s missed a huge part of the season. But he’s not far away from playing again.

“I’ve known Kevin since my first managerial job with Hibs. He’s a good man and a top player who’s just had a really bad time at this club with injuries.

“I’m frustrated for him because having worked with him at Hibs, I know what a quality player he is and I did have it in my mind the role he was going to play in my team before the injury occurred.

“Nobody’s more frustrated than Kevin, but at this moment he knows he has to be fit on the training ground every day and then he has to get an opportunity in the team. But that will come sooner or later down the line.

“Of course players when they’re injured get frustrated and disappointed when they’re injured. They’re only human beings after all.

“His morale’s fine. I watch him in training and he knows he’s a good player with the talent and quality to play in our team.

“We’ll see what we do at the weekend with regard to getting him on the bench with a view to possibly getting him some game time.”

Mowbray, meanwhile, goes into Monday’s game against Hull City with a headache that all managers would love – which striker to play.

Marvin Emnes has been in red-hot form this season but missed last week’s victory at Cardiff due to injury.

Fellow striker Bart Ogbeche had taken to practising on his day off in order to catch Mowbray’s eye. That he did, and he duly took his opportunity with a goal at Cardiff. While Emnes may be fit to face Hull, Mowbray might not necessarily pick him.

He added: “Marvin might make the bench. We might give him the extra game off to ensure that he is 100% because I thought that Bart (Ogbeche) did more than enough last week to make an impact.

“To be fair, Bart hasn’t had much of an opportunity at home. He’s had 10 minutes here, quarter of an hour there. So to see what Bart can do by starting him at the Riverside might be interesting.

“Bart is an experienced player who knows his own body. He knows the situation he found himself in where he was basically without a club. He knew he needed to get up to speed. He knows what he’s like and what his maximum level is. So it is mainly down to him, taking it on board himself and working with our sports science department on his day off and saying if it would be OK to do this and this and this.

“In an ideal world, you’ve got somebody watching over you while you do your work who also motivates and drives you on. He’s instigated his own routine and he’s got the benefits of it – all credit to him.

“Last week was his first start of the season and he got through the 90 minutes at a canter, because he had ensured that his own fitness levels were really high.”