As if Harte's permanent absence isn't bad enough, it seems we'll have to make do without Craig Dargo. Once again, the striker has picked up an injury after looking lively in the previous game. This is the umpteenth time this has happened with Dargo since he returned from his serious injury in 2007 and you really have to wonder if he'll be around after the summer. He's our highest paid player and we cannot afford to have him sitting in the stands half the time. His absence means Dennis Wyness is likely to start after his goal against Kilmarnock last week. Alongside him will be Jim Hamilton or Billy Mehmet. It's anyone's guess which as Hamilton was poor last week, while Mehmet wasn't exactly great in the reserves on Tuesday.
The rest of the team will probably stay the same, although Steven Thomson could replace Stephen McGinn in midfield. Will Haining is back playing again but isn't match fit, while Stephen O'Donnell and Franco Miranda are out after recently undergoing surgery.
There have been a few Scottish Cup meetings between Saints and 'Well in recent years. One I can think of came in 2001, when we lost 2-1 at home. A far more memorable one came five years later when we gubbed them 3-0 thanks to Mark Corcoran producing a superb performance and Charlie Adam scoring a double to go with John Potter's header. Many Saints fans see this game as a chance for revenge for a cup defeat in 1977 when Alex Ferguson's side were kicked off the park. Perhaps our players should pretend everyone in a Motherwell shirt is Ian Harte and boot them up and down the pitch. We might get some red cards, but it would be amusing.
Steelmen boss Mark McGhee was busy on transfer deadline day bringing in a few players and, crucially, he seems to have gone the whole way and got them to scrawl their names on a bit of paper. Cillian Sheridan has arrived from Celtic to replace Chris Porter and it will be interesting to see if the young Irishman can live up to his Football Manager potential in the next few months. Also coming in was Semih Aydilek, a winger from Birmingham.
Sheridan could well be partnered with former Saint John Sutton tomorrow. The Englishman scored two of 'Well's goals against Inverurie Locos on Monday night and seems to have recaptured his form from earlier in the season, which included a goal against us. His most memorable performance at Fir Park came when he was wearing black and white stripes. In May 2007, we were trailing 2-0 and looked to be set for an immediate return to the first division. However, Sutton scored either side of Billy Mehmet's strike to complete the comeback of all comebacks. He's not the only former Buddie we could come up against tomorrow, with Steven McGarry also in the squad.
We could really do with a win after a couple of poor weeks, but I feel the events of the last day may prove to be a major distraction and Motherwell will progress to the quarter finals.