Our form at the moment isn't too bad. In our last four games we've won a cup and had three draws, one of which came against the team that will almost certainly win the league. However, our last league win came more than a month ago at the end of February and that is something we must put right. Our away form in the last few seasons has also been rather poor - our current tally of two league wins matches the previous campaign - and that too needs to be put to bed. Admittedly a visit to the team in second is not the obvious place to fix either of those statistics!
Despite Motherwell being second in the table we're currently undefeated against them since the first few weeks of last season. Admittedly, we've drawn all but one of the games that have followed but it's not too shabby a record and shows we're more than capable of getting a result tomorrow. However, they have some excellent attacking players that can cut through us and they won't waste their chances, so we cannot afford to make any slip-ups. At least the Fir Park surface is a bit better than it used to be so we should be able to produce our passing football tomorrow.
This may be the final game before the split but the top six battle has no bearing on us, our dreams of finishing in the upper echelons in the SPL ending a few weeks ago - although realistically they were dead long before that. The focus now has to be on finishing as high up as we can. Seventh place is not out of sight but we'd have to pick up a good few wins in our remaining six games. Wednesday's game against Kilmarnock was a great opportunity to close the gap on the teams above us but we passed up some chances in the first half and were made to pay once again. We probably won't get so many opportunities tomorrow so we have to be a lot more clinical when the openings appear.
We will have a different looking frontline tomorrow as Esmael Goncalves has been told to sit on the naughty step. The rights and wrongs of that decision have been done to death and now we must put up with it and come up with an alternative - and there are plenty of those. Do we play Sam Parkin or Lewis Guy up front alongside Steven Thompson? Or do we play him as a lone striker and encourage runners from midfield by putting in someone like Sander Puri, Graham Carey, Dougie Imrie or even Kenny McLean? Plenty of options to keep us - and the opposition guessing. It wouldn't be a huge surprise to see a 4-5-1 and we could even have Guy operating on the left of midfield before he joins Thompson when we attack.
That aside we probably won't see too many other changes, unless the likes of Thompson, Gary Teale or John McGinn are too tired to start three games in the space of a week. It would be nice to see Darren McGregor back in the squad as he is supposedly fit again, however I reckon if we're to see the likes of him, David Barron and Thomas Reilly before the end of the season it'll come after the split. Likewise if we're going to blood a few youngsters like Sean Kelly, Mo Yaqub and Jack Smith.
Motherwell will almost certainly be in the Europa League next season - a bit of a let down considering they made it into the Champions League last season. Of course, that's all to do with circumstances beyond their control and second would be a fine achievement. Manager Stuart McCall continues to do a terrific job, developing a squad that is capable of playing exciting, attacking football while keeping a lid on things at the back. He has recently signed a new contract and broke with tradition by opting against swapping Fir Park for Aberdeen. The aim now is to secure the runners-up spot and there's no reason they can't do it, going into the final round of pre-split fixtures with a three point gap over the chasing back.
The Steelmen have one of the best goalkeepers in the SPL in the shape of Darren Randolph. Fraser Forster is the only one who is arguably better and the gap only became apparent this season. There's no shame in being second best to him given the Celtic goalie's form this season and it can be tough finding a way past the Motherwell goalie. His defence is pretty solid too despite Steven Saunders still being missing. Shaun Hutchison and Simon Ramsden are pretty competent while Steven Hammell is always reliable at leftback. On occasion his place has been taken by Zaine Francis-Angol, the Antiguian international looking an exciting prospectl, as does Adam Cummins.
All the talk lately has been about another international who was once a top prospect. James McFadden returned to the club last month after leaving Sunderland as he bids to put his injury hell of the last few years behind him. Incredibly it's now more than five years since his stunning winner for Scotland against France and that is a sign of what he's capable of when he's fit. McFadden may have style and gallus but Michael Higdon does the rather less flashy job of sticking the ball away with minimum fuss. You can't really argue with that considering he has 22 goals this season and the former Buddie will be looking forward to playing - and scoring - against us once again. Henrik Ojamaa has been playing well since the end of last year while Bob McHugh is living up to his super sub tag, even if he doesn't particularly like it.
McFadden isn't the only player whose trickery we need to watch out for. Chris Humphrey is capable of causing problems all day with his pace and loves nothing better than running at a defence. Tom Hateley has been playing at the back at times this season but his free-kick taking ability is one of the best in the SPL - and his corners aren't too bad either. Keith Lasley continues to put in performances belying his years while Nicky Law has been superb, Motherwell noticeably struggling when he is out of the team or has an off day. He's capable of creating and scoring, helping himself to a brace against Dundee on Saturday, and he has even been linked with a summer switch to Rangers. Hopefully he has more sense as he'd be more suited to the Championship rather than the second division.
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