Motherwell will complete
the City of Discovery double when Dundee visit Fir Park on Saturday.
After last week’s
goalless afternoon at Tannadice Motherwell will hope for better against the
Dens Park side. The form guide suggests
a home win. Can the Steelmen deliver?
Jens Berthel Askou has
made full use of his squad in recent weeks and he will be forced into at least
one change this weekend as Tawanda Maswanhise has set off to participate in the
Africa Cup of Nations. The Zimbabwean
has been one of the few fixtures in Askou’s side and with a dozen goals from
his two dozen appearances to date, he’ll be missed.
This may give Jens a
chance to see how Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Callum Hendry work as a pair
but trying to anticipate the Dane’s selection is not easy. Stephen Welsh had to be substituted last week
after a head clash with team-mate Elliot Watt.
It remains to be seen whether he will be available.
The manager noted that teams are now wise to Motherwell’s playing style and apply strategies to prevent the free flowing game that has become our trademark. He and his backroom staff will be working on a counter.
Dundee are struggling
to make headway from the danger area of the table. Their frustration grew when a two goal lead
at Livingston was lost after a late collapse.
An embarrassing goalkeeping error by Jon McCracken lost two points
ending the game in a draw.
Steven Presley does
not have his troubles to seek. Ryan
Astley suffered a first half concussion injury and he will miss out on
Saturday. He will be joined on the
sidelines by fellow defender Clark Robertson.
They have the worst
goal difference in the league (-16) but they do carry a goal threat through Simon
Murray, Cameron Congreve and Yan Dhanda. Good work will be needed if Motherwell are to
extend the run of clean sheets to six.
The ‘Well have
recorded three draws in the last four outings.
With early help from Santa we should see a return to winning ways on
Saturday, 2-0.
