Sunday's defeat was verging on heartbreaking as we came so close to getting a point only for it to be snatched away. However, what's done and done and we can't dwell on it for too long. Hopefully the same applies to the players and they have it out of their minds ahead of tomorrow's game. Motherwell have been going well in the SPL this season and will be formidable opponents. On the plus side, they have beaten us just twice in Paisley since we were promoted in 2006 - on the negative side, we've beaten them just twice in home league games in the same period - although we have managed a couple of cup wins.
Despite Motherwell being a fair bit above us in the table, we really have to be taking something out of fixtures like these, especially when we're at home. We may have been able to relax if the relatively easy run of games in September had yielded more than zero points, but sadly that wasn't the case and we're in a situation where we need to start winning these fixtures. It will not be easy, but in recent weeks there have been signs of improvement that suggest this Danny Lennon chap may just know what he's doing. The players are beginning to look like a team, rather than a team of individuals that have been pitched together, and that's despite injuries forcing Lennon to shuffle his pack every week.
But any changes to tomorrow's team will be because players are available again, rather than because they have dropped out with a mystery ailment. Paul McGowan is allowed back out to play and will go straight back into the side, with Kenny McLean or Sean Lynch likely to make way. It would be harsh on McLean as he was excellent last week, but he's still learning and his time will come. The other option is replacing Gareth Wardlaw with McGowan, but Lennon seems to see the on-loan Celtic man as a player to sit in behind the front two rather than an out and out striker. Further improving Lennon's mood is the return to fitness of Steven Thomson, Craig Dargo, Steven Robb and David Barron. All four played in Tuesday's bounce game against Morton, with Dargo scoring, but it's likely to be next week at the earliest before any of them start. Dargo's return is particularly good news as circumstances last week prevented us from having a striker on the bench. That was because Paul McQuade was out and there's no news of whether or not he'll be back tomorrow. The same goes for Garry Brady, while Nick Hegarty, Paul Gallacher and Lee Mair are also missing.
The absence of the latter is arguably not that big an issue. Before his injury, Mair's performances were far from ideal and he was quickly becoming the nominated scapegoat for our low points tally. Is it coincidence that his injury came at the time our form started to pick up? Possibly, but it also came when we switched to a 5-3-2/3-5-2 system. It gets the best out of Jure Travner and David Barron and, own goals aside, the back three of John Potter, Marc McAusland and prize bargain Darren McGregor have looked a bit more solid. It's a system we're likely to stick with, regardless of Mair's fitness, and why not? It's been serving us well recently.
I've said it before but I don't mind admitting it again - I was wrong to laugh at Motherwell when they appointed Craig Brown just under a year ago. At the time it seemed a farcical appointment, giving a manager who had been out of the game for quite a few years a chance. Look at what happened when the likes of Joe Kinnear and Kevin Keegan went to Newcastle. But Brown has repeatedly proven there is life in the old dog with some superb performances and results, taking the Steelmen into Europe last season in the process. He could well do the same this time around and who would argue with his claim that they'll finish higher than last season's fifth place?
The irony is Motherwell's team are relatively young, especially when you compare them to some of the players in Brown's final Scotland squads. Steven Saunders is looking like a talent in defence and was capped for Scotland during the week, while midfielder Tom Hateley is on his way to losing the tag of being Mark's son. Chris Humphrey is also a tricky opponent up front, while Brown will be hoping the DVDs he sent of Blackburn striker Nick Blackman to Sam Allardyce got lost in the post. He has been on fire this season and could be set to return to Eawood Park in the summer. Of course, Motherwell do have some experienced players like Stephen Craigan, Stevie Hammell and Keith Lasley, but overall they are a relatively young team with energy and good passing ability.
Blackman isn't the only danger man up front, with Jamie Murphy also knowing where the goal is. They also have at their disposal former Saint John Sutton. He arrived in 2005 from Millwall, scored the winner in the League Challenge Cup final a few months later and helped us win the first division. More importantly, he also helped us stay in the SPL with a memorable performance against his current employers in May 2007. In possibly my favourite ever Saints game (well, 40 minutes or so of it was good), Saints came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at Fir Park with Sutton scoring either side of a Billy Mehmet strike. It kept us in the SPL but didn't stop Sutton doing one to Wycombe in the summer. He signed for Motherwell a year later and has since scored twice against us for them.
Our record against Motherwell at home in the SPL hasn't been great in recent years - we haven't beaten them in a league game since January 2008 - but if we can play like we did against Dundee United and for most of the game against Celtic, there's no reason we can't get a victory and put some breathing space between ourselves and bottom spot.