Motherwell travel to face St Johnstone on Saturday in search of elusive points before the World Cup brings a five week break.
Both teams will be competing in their third game in a week and the prospect of a spell of rest and recovery will be welcome. Managers will call for one more effort from their players to ensure that they face the break with a win bonus secured.
Motherwell have not won at McDiarmid Park since Devante Cole’s goal delivered a 1-0 victory in September 2019 and with a run that has seen only two wins from the last eleven attempts the need for an upturn is clear.
Stephen Hammell saw his selection options further restricted as Kevin van Veen, Bevis Mugabi and Stuart McKinstry had to be substituted in Wednesday’s match with Celtic. He’ll be hoping that the magic sponge has some effect.
Louis Moult may be ready for a starting place and Ross Tierney knows his first goal of the season (a lovely volley against Celtic) will have been welcomed by the manager. Stephen O’Donnell was Motherwell’s man of the match on Wednesday and he will patrol the right side of the back four.
St Johnstone have raised a few eyebrows with their impressive run of three wins and a draw that now has them four points ahead of Motherwell. They needed an added time goal from Nicky Clark to steal a point in Paisley on Wednesday. And back in August Stevie May won the game at Fir Park by scoring in the 94th minute.
A change in central defence will be forced after Alex Mitchell was dismissed following a VAR intervention on Wednesday but Callum Davidson has several options.
There is an argument that this game should matter more to Motherwell as the drift down the league table has to be stopped. It promises to be a hard fought meeting with both teams keen to attack. Both sides might get a couple of goals to produce a 2-2 draw.