Motherwell are suffering after four straight losses while St Johnstone’s last league win was at Fir Park in August. Since then our hosts have taken only one point from six outings. Some might suggest that those who take to McDiarmid Park dressed in their club colours are masquerading as footballers.
To add to their league woes the Saints were knocked out of the League Cup on Tuesday and had Murray Davidson sent to hospital with a gash close to his eye. He may be a doubt for this game and he could join injured colleagues Scobbie and Mclean on the sidelines. Their attack will be led by Graham – he scored the late winner against us at the last meeting.
Fir Park regulars are still recovering from the sight of David Clarkson scoring against us a couple of weeks ago. Many expect their erstwhile hero James McFadden to repeat the feat on Friday.
There’s a suspicion that the team that has a full week to prepare should have an advantage over one that played in midweek. Whether that will benefit Motherwell remains to be seen. To have any hope of exploiting that benefit our boys will have to follow Gordon Strachan’s advice to the ‘Well team that lost at Pittodrie. “When all else fails run about a lot – something might happen!”.
The teams have scored only 13 league goals between them in this season’s Premiership, Saints have the advantage by one but that’s an appalling total from 22 outings. Both managers are likely to stress the need for a solid defensive base and both might see some grounds for optimism from a draw. Bookies are offering 10/1 on a goalless match and that might tempt a few! 0-0.