With the league split looming St Mirren visit Fir Park on Saturday for a game that has three precious points as a prize.
Both teams have ambitions to be included in the upper half of the table in mid-April and a win at the weekend will go a long way to making that a reality.
Motherwell and St Mirren had no interest in the Scottish Cup quarter finals and as a result both managers have had a fortnight to prepare for this fixture.
Newly installed Michael Wimmer would be happy to have some quality time with his squad. He was appointment three weeks ago and thrown in at the deep end. Games against Dundee United, Dundee and Rangers followed in a busy eight days that produced six points.
Indications of a new style were evident as the players began to take on the manager’s philosophy. It will be fascinating to see how the Steelmen react after a fortnight on the training pitch.
This week’s news that Lennon Miller has been promoted to the national A squad, Ewan Wilson’s inclusion with the U21 group and Kai Andrews gaining a first call up for Wales will have added to the feeling that the team may be back on track.
Motherwell had narrow wins over St Mirren the earlier meetings this season and we can expect another close encounter on Saturday.
St Mirren have not enjoyed the best of fortunes lately. One win in the last six has them in ninth place, three behind Motherwell.
Toyosi Olusanya and Mikael Mandron have been providing the goals for the visitors lately and Declan John’s wonderful free kick against Celtic shows the threat they hold at set pieces.
Both teams need the win and we can expect an exciting end to end game. The teams have been separated by at most one goal in the last nine meetings. Maybe there will be no gap this time after a 1-1.