Tony Mowbray loses Scott Brown and Shaun Maloney for another two months

Brown had an operation on an ankle injury in the summer which failed to clear the problem and, after being out for the last five weeks, he will have further surgery in Amsterdam next week. Maloney's Achilles injury has kept him sidelined since the 1-0 defeat by Hearts in the Co-operative Insurance Cup in October.

Mowbray said: "Scott has been to Amsterdam to see a specialist. We have come to the conclusion where we go now. Scott will have a minor procedure in Amsterdam which will hopefully clear up his problem. Ultimately, we need to get it sorted. The specialist who is overseeing Scott is looking at him being out for six to eight weeks.

"Maloney is also out for the same length of time. There will be no surgery, just a course of injections."

Meanwhile, Celtic defender Danny Fox believes a sound thrashing of St Mirren at Parkhead today could kick-start his team's season.

A 2-1 defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice last Sunday left the visitors a point behind Old Firm rivals Rangers at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League,

however, asked if he thought Celtic were due to deliver a comprehensive defeat to someone, Fox replied: "I think so, yes. We owe it to the fans and ourselves. We had three or four great chances in the first half on Sunday and we could have gone in two or three ahead. The performances have been there. We just haven't been scoring goals and have been conceding silly goals, such as against Falkirk and last Sunday. It's always good to score a few goals and keep a clean sheet and hopefully that happens."

Celtic captain Stephen McManus returns from suspension while midfielders Zheng Zhi and Paddy McCourt are back after recovering from a knock and illness respectively. Goalkeeper Artur Boruc is back in training after a knee operation but will not be risked.