Motherwell and Hearts meet at Fir Park on Sunday in the fourth round of league fixtures.
The visitors’ participation in the Europa League on Thursday evening caused this match to be delayed by 24 hours. They will hope that the trip to play the Czech side Viktoria Plzen might bring some good news following a poor opening to the domestic season.
After a goalless encounter with Rangers, Hearts lost to Dundee and then Falkirk in the League Cup. It was not a start that went down well in Gorgie.
Steven Naismith made eight changes to his team for the ill-fated tie with Falkirk and he expressed his frustration as he apologised to the big travelling support. Blair Spittal, Kenneth Vargas and Yan Dhanda are among the many new signings yet to claim a win bonus. Craig Gordon and Zander Clark seem to be in a rotation for the goalkeeping position.
Motherwell fared better in last week’s League Cup game and few in the Fir Park dressing room would care that it needed an extra-time goal to let them progress to the quarter final.
Tawanda Maswanhise made an impressive debut and capped it with the assist that was ably converted by Moses Ebiye. Tony Watt came off the bench with 30 minutes of regular time remaining but he had an hour’s action and that should help sharpen him up for this weekend.
Motherwell sit just above Hearts in the early table and Stuart Kettlewell’s aim will be to stretch the gap with home advantage. Both teams are struggling to convert goal scoring opportunities so a low scoring draw may be on the cards. 1-1.