Jim Gannon and his backroom staff are delighted at the impressive start the team has made to the season and our win against Falkirk will have done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the players.
Forbes and U21 hero Murphy have returned from the international break and they should be brimming with confidence. McHugh and Meechan are still with the U19 squad in Austria and won't feature in our plans for the weekend.
Captain Craigan will be with the Northern Ireland squad for their Word Cup qualifier in the Czech republic on Wednesday. Steven has been placed on the Motherwell bench following his last two midweek internationals and it seems unlikely that there will be any change to that pattern on this occasion.
The break has given the troops time to recover from the bumps, bruises and niggles which have built up over the 14 competitive games which started way back on July 2 in the Europa league. That breathing applies to all the SPL teams but those that carry a small playing staff will find the time more valuable than the rest. Reports suggest that Jim O'Brien has made good use of the time to recover from the ankle knock he picked up last time out and he'll be keen to show his old club what they have lost.
It could be argued that the upcoming game is a 'shot to nothing' and that we need to focus more on the upcoming double header at St Mirren Park but that way of thinking seems alien to our manager and he'll be out to cause a wee upset. Fingers crossed!