Motherwell will play Livingston at Fir Park on Saturday. The outcome may be one up one down.
A home win will almost certainly be enough to send the West Lothian side to the Championship for next season’s campaign but the success they secured over Ross County last weekend demonstrates that they will offer stiff resistance.
That victory, their second in the last twenty six attempts, did not tempt David Martindale into an outbreak of misplaced optimism. "It gives you hope but I've also got to be pragmatic.”
Bruce Anderson scored his sixth league goal of the season and Sean Kelly added their second from the spot in the second half.
The last time the teams met at Fir Park proved to be a significant turning point in Motherwell’s campaign. The long horrible run of fifteen games without a win ended the day before Hogmanay and the Steelmen began the slow but steady climb away from the danger area.
Jack Vale will start his two match suspension on Saturday. The appeal against his red card at Pittodrie was dismissed. Stuart Kettlewell may well choose to rely on midfielder support for Theo Bair as a lone striker. An alternative is to offer Moses Ebiye a first start.
The referee for the game is David Munro.
A win and a point dropped by Ross County against Hibs will eliminate the risk of the play-off spot and offer the Steelmen a stress free end to the campaign. The home support will be boosted by the Bring a Friend for a Fiver initiative and the team can reward them with a 2-0 triumph.