Last season Motherwell won three of the four meetings between the teams and under normal circumstances we would be fairly confident of success. The great unknown is the reaction that our lads will have after the midweek effort in Greece. Will they take heart that they matched Panathinaikos for much of the game or will a loss of confidence and tired legs lead to a less than sparkling performance?
Happy days the last time we met St Johnstone
The Saints suffered a 2-0 defeat to Hearts in last week’s opener and Tade saw red. An appeal was dismissed and the ex-Inverness man will miss Saturday’s game. The Frenchman is one of the new faces that Lomas has brought in over the summer window. Other imports include Cregg, Hasselbaink and Scobbie while Sandaza, Riordan and Sheridan plus half a dozen other departed. St Johnstone were early starters in this season’s Europa League but Turkish opposition ended their interest.
There will be a healthy home support to pay tribute to the team’s Champions League campaign. Friday will also bring new European opponents, this time in the qualifying round of the Europa League.
Higdon will resume his starting place having been rested in Athens. Ojamaa’s effort may result in him moving to the bench. We haven’t had any news of Humphrey’s hamstring injury but it seems unlikely that he’ll be available. Cummins did well on Wednesday and McCall will be pleased to have some backup for the back line.
If ‘SellOut Saturday” has any effect then we might have a decent atmosphere and we have to hope that the home team gets the boost. We’ll break our duck and celebrate a 2-0 win.
Remember the last time St Johnstone were in town?
Join the debate on the messageboard.