Motherwell and St Mirren will take to the Fir Park pitch on Tuesday to resolve their Scottish Cup replay. After the washout of a league meeting on Saturday the teams will hope that underfoot conditions have improved.
A second half equaliser from Alex Jakubiak cancelled Mark O’Hara’s opener to level the fifth round encounter in Paisley. Stephen Robinson and Jim Goodwin shared the view that a draw was a fair ending on an afternoon when wind and rain dominated. Calmer conditions are expected on Tuesday evening.
Motherwell will have to make at least one change from the eleven starters when the teams met at St Mirren Park. Chris Long’s injury will prompt a rethink of our attacking options. Christy Manzinga, Christian Ilic and Tony Watt will look for the call. Mikael Ndjoli was injured in training last week.
Home wins have not been common at Fir Park of late, the last came in the early December victory over Hearts. The memory of the last kick loss in Perth may be fading but Motherwell need a win to restart the season.
The Paisley Saints are barely keeping ahead of the play-off place and they have not won any of their last six matches. Their last win was against Broxburn Athletic in the fourth round.
There are unlikely to be any surprises on Tuesday. The managers are all too familiar with the strengths and weaknesses in play and strategies will be planned to match.
The prize for the winners is a home tie against Kilmarnock or Aberdeen in the quarter final but it may take extra time an penalties to split the teams after another 1-1.