Motherwell and St Mirren meet at Fir Park on Saturday as the countdown to the league split reaches three.
The campaign resumes after the latest international interruption that began with a Motherwell loss to Aberdeen’s single goal and a St Mirren gift of a 5-2 win to Kilmarnock. The implosion at Rugby Park left Stephen Robinson bemused as his side conceded five times in eighteen minutes.
Both clubs had players on representative duties. There will be a careful examination of Lennon Miller following his late substitution in the U19s game against Italy. He did not appear on the team sheet for the Tuesday game against the Czech Republic. Bevis Mugabi played twice for Uganda and captained his team in the 2-2 draw with Ghana.
For St Mirren the most notable performance was that of Keanu Baccus who scored a fine goal for Australia.
The visitors hold the upper hand in the three previous meetings between the teams this season. Those low scoring affairs produced a goalless Premiership draw and a 1-0 League Cup win for St Mirren at Fir Park and 1-0 win for the home team in Paisley.
St Mirren look comfortable in fifth place and only a dramatic collapse would endager their top half aspiration. Motherwell still have an outside chance of getting over the line but that would need help from elsewhere and a near perfect haul from the next three games.
The importance of the first strike in matches between this pair is clear – there have been only two goals in this season’s three encounters. Motherwell’s inability to convert chances has impeded the recent momentum.
There was plenty of criticism of the officials’ decision making in the last game at Fir Park and it is to be hoped that Matthew MacDermid and his assistants fare better on Saturday.
Few home fans will complain if the ‘Well can take a point; 1-1.