Motherwell and Morton meet at Cappielow on Friday with a place in the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup the prize.
If recent results are a guide this could be a high scoring encounter. Motherwell thrashed Ross County 5-0 on Tuesday and Morton won by the same margin in Dunfermline last weekend.
Spirits are high in Greenock as three clean sheets and three consecutive wins moved Morton up to fourth in the Championship table. Their last dozen matches delivered nine wins and three draws. No wonder Dougie Imrie and George Oakley were awarded the SPFL Championship manager and player of the month awards for January.
The last visit
Oakley, together with Robbie Muirhead and Robbie Crawford have made a huge contribution to Morton’s goal tally and the ‘Well defence will have to be on form to keep them out.
Motherwell’s visits to Cappielow are rare and normally on cup business. The last Scottish Cup trip produced a 6-0 win as Tom Hateley, Jamie Murphy(x2), Shaun Hutchison, Henrick Ojama and Nicky Law found the net.
Blair Spittal has earned rave reviews for his recent form. Goals and assists aplenty have raised his profile. Theo Bair’s goal run continued on Tuesday though he had to rely on a penalty kick rather than one of the several chances his team-mates created.
Stuart Kettlewell selected the same starting eleven for the last three games but he may have to make at least one change as Andy Halliday had to be substituted five minutes after the break against Ross County.
The game, with a 7.30pm start, will be televised by the BBC and John Beaton will be in charge. There will be no repeat of the famous 1991 replay. In any event a 3-1 win should see the Mighty ‘Well into the next round.