Motherwell travel to Aberdeen on Saturday for the sixth league game of the season. With only one win each the teams are neighbours in the bottom half of the table. There will be a hard fought contest for three valuable points.
Our hosts are disappointed at their slow start to the campaign and the grumblings in the stands about the future of Derek McInnes continue. The summer turnaround of players has yet to deliver the performances that helped them to recent finishes in second place.
We may see a first start for James Wilson an on-loan striker from Manchester United as they hope to increase their poor scoring rate of four goals from five games. On familiar face in the opposition line-up could be Mikey Devlin. The ex-Hamilton defender has faced us often and is now available following last week’s suspension.
Stephen Robinson’s squad can take encouragement from the showing they gave against Hearts last week despite the narrow loss. Only a lack of cutting edge and a good goalkeeping display prevented us from scoring. Conor Sammon will return to the pool after sitting out against his home club.
The well publicised ankle injury suffered by Trevor Carson was not as bad as first feared and the club reports that he is a doubt for Saturday’s match. His replacement, Mark Gillespie, showed enough in the hour he played against Hearts to suggest that we have a capable reserve. He will be keen to remind the manager that he has an eye on the number one jersey.
We enjoyed wins over the Dons in all three competitions last season including a league win at Pittodrie. Both teams have yet to show their best as the Premiership begins and there is every reason to hope that we can return from the north east with happy faces after a 1-0 triumph.