James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Radio Scotland

A long, high ball causes problems for the visiting defence and Jermaine Hylton, looking a bit offside-ish, has a chance to race in on goal but he never really gets the ball under control and the Buddies eventually clear.

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland at Fir Park

The carrot is there for both clubs tonight.

Motherwell can take a big step in the race to finish third and pull through some patchy form relatively unscathed in league terms.

St Mirren can take a huge stride in the relegation fight and put immense pressure on teams below them.

If they are to pull away, tonight might prove a crucial moment in their season.

And away we go.

St Mirren have lost 10 of their 13 away games in the Premiership this season, winning just once.

Jim Goodwin's men have definitely improved since the winter break but too many promising displays have resulted in draws. Three of their last four league outings have ended all square.

The two previous league meetings this season have been comfortable wins for Motherwell, with a 2-0 success at Fir Park followed by a 3-0 victory in Paisley.

James Scott scored three of those five goals but he's now a Hull City player after his January transfer.

The forward suffered a cruel blow when his first training session with the Tigers was ended by a serious ankle injury but the teenager has plenty of time on his side.

Image source, SNS

St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin has emphasised that league duties are more important for his side, even though they take on Aberdeen this Saturday in the Scottish Cup quarter-final.

Goodwin explains: “Staying in the league is our bread and butter, and that’s the most important thing for any of us.

“I believe we are capable of putting a run together, we have done it in fits and starts but haven’t done it consistently and that’s been our problem all season.

“I believe we’ve got as good a squad as anyone else in the league but I just feel we’ve got to try and put a run of results together.”

Reflecting on last week's first half performance which saw the visitors open up a 4-1 lead, St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin clearly wants more of the same, as opposed to the the second half showing that saw his side ship three goals.

“I would love more of the same from the first 45 minutes”, Goodwin tells BBC Sportsound.

“It was a very entertaining game and I’m glad we came out the other side of it, but tonight is a different game. It looks like Motherwell have changed their shape slightly and that’s something for us to deal with.

“It was hard to be happy [last week] to be honest, but when we watched the game back we took as many positives as we could.”

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A win tonight for Motherwell will move them four points clear of fourth placed Aberdeen, and going into tonight's rearranged fixture manager Stephen Robinson feels his players are gaining belief again after a poor run of form.

"We got back to being really solid against Hamilton, but we are looking for a bit more creativity going forward tonight", Robinson tells BBC Sportsound.

"Its been a tough couple of weeks. Psychologically it was important we didn't get beat on Saturday, I feel we are turning a corner and I see a sense of belief coming from the boys again.

Speaking to BBC Sportsound pre-match, Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson is delighted to have David Turnbull back in his squad.

"It’s a huge boost to have someone of David's quality in any shape or form", he says.

"He got the OK yesterday to step it up. He's been training on a regular basis for a month playing in training games, but we’ll have to temper expectations. It will be a case of building up gradually.

"It will be another month to six weeks before he's starting games, but he's something to bring on from the bench with the talent he has."

Image source, SNS

James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Radio Scotland

The return of David Turnbull will be a huge boost for Motherwell. The midfielder has not played since the final game of last season.

A summer move to Celtic fell through when his medical revealed a knee problem and the 20-year-old had to have surgery.

Turnbull enjoyed a wonderful breakthrough campaign, scoring 15 league goals in 30 appearances, with pundit Michael Stewart comparing his attacking style to legendary German maestro Michael Ballack.

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Motherwell started 2020 with a bang, knocking Dundee out of the cup and winning at Pittodrie to go four points clear in the race for third spot.

However, since then they have gone five without a win in the league, scoring just twice.

And yet, the Steelmen nudged back into third place after a goalless draw at Hamilton on Saturday. That stuttering run and Aberdeen's form falling off a cliff has allowed Livingston and Hibs to creep into contention for the Europa League qualifying places.

A return to winning ways would lift Stephen Robinson's side nine points ahead of sixth-placed Hibs.

So, this is the third meeting between these two this month, following two Scottish Cup draws.

A 1-1 draw in Paisley was followed by last week's extraordinary 4-4.

St Mirren, who had only managed nine goals in their 15 prior away games in all competitions this season, raced into a 4-1 half-time lead, Motherwell came roaring back, but then fell apart in the shoot-out, missing three spot-kicks.

Check out the highlights below...

Three games were called off earlier today because of the wet weather but we still have four going ahead in the Championship and League One.

We'll keep an eye on those for you.

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, BBC Sport

St Mirren had the weekend off after their game against Hearts was rained off on Friday.

Ryan Flynn, Kyle Magennis and Gary MacKenzie remain out, along with Stephen McGinn, who is is back in training but not quite ready.

Manager Jim Goodwin sticks with the same XI that started last week's cup win at Fir Park.

Chris Long is suspended after picking up two yellow cards during the goalless draw at Hamilton on Saturday, so winger Jermaine Hylton comes in to replace the striker.

Jake Carroll (Achilles) has been ruled out for the season, with Mikael Ndjoli and Charles Dunne also missing but not far away from returns.

The big news is on the bench, with the welcome return of David Turnbull.

Motherwell: Gillespie, Donnelly, Hartley, Gallagher, Tait, Campbell, O'Hara, Polworth, Hylton, Aarons, Watt.

Substitutes: Carson, Grimshaw, Turnbull, Seedorf, Ilic, Mugabe, MacIver.

St Mirren: Hladky, Hodson, McCarthy, Famewo, Waters, Foley, MacPherson, McGrath, Durmus, Jakubiak, Obika.

Substitutes: Lyness, Andreu, McAllister, Mullen, Morias, Chabbi, Wallace.

Motherwell and St Mirren meet again, just seven days after serving up an absolute belter of a Scottish Cup replay.

We were treated to eight goals and a penalty shoot-out at Fir Park last Tuesday.

Here's hoping for more high drama this evening as Motherwell look to take a firm grip of third place and St Mirren aim to pull away from the bottom two.

Image source, SNS