Forfar Preview

Our hosts are playing their part in encouraging a healthy crowd by agreeing to hold prices at ten and five pounds. Those ‘Well fans who shelled out twenty four pounds at Parkhead on Saturday will be grateful. And Motherwell’s decision to subsidise travel costs should ensure that a reasonable crowd makes the trek to Angus.

Our opponents produced a 3-1 win over Dumbarton at the weekend in front of 449 souls at Station Park and they now have seven points from six games in the Second Division. They beat Berwick one-nil in the first round of the competition (again at Station Park – do they ever play away?).

It seems that we came through the Celtic game with no injuries and, if Jason Dair recovers from his tummy bug, only Burns will be missing from the squad. Terry Butcher has had the luxury of selecting a fairly stable starting eleven for the last few games and it is unlikely that there will be any surprise in the team.

In theory this should be a straightforward win for the SPL side and there should be no need for extra time. Still, as one perceptive analyst mentioned as we left Parkhead, “It has been some time since we slipped on a lower league banana skin – we must be due one!”

The pitch is narrow, listed at 69 yards compared to Fir Park’s 75 yards, so the possibilities of attacking up the wings will be limited. Still, there is no reason to suppose that Craig and Clarkson cannot lead us to the third round of the cup. 2-0 to the ‘Well.

Have you entered a prediction yet?