Motherwell hold the upper hand after fine wines over Hearts and Inverness Caley Thistle and a draw at Kilmarnock. We lag a couple of points behind after drawing twice - at Dunfermline and Dundee United - and beating Aberdeen. Of course, it's early days and chances are neither side will be anywhere near their current position come the end of the season, but for the moment we can all dream and look ahead to the rest of the season with a bit of optimism.
Games between Saints and Motherwell have often been close affairs in recent years, with the two teams being relatively evenly matched when they go head to head - although Motherwell have always finished above us in the SPL table. We usually manage to beat them at least once a season even if it's only in one of the cups, while they often return the favour at some stage. Weirdly, our record in league games is better at Fir Park than in Paisley since we were promoted. We've beaten them just twice at home - both of those games at Love Street - and we've beaten them three times in Lanarkshire, including that famous afternoon in 2007. Of course, we have beaten them twice in cup competitions at the new ground - but then we did win a cup semi-final at their place last year too.
It's about time that is put right and we record our first league win over them at our new home. We are playing some lovely football at the moment, with great passing moves and a willingness to attack. However, Motherwell are also producing some good stuff at the moment so this could be an entertaining afternoon with some great football on show. Who thought you'd ever be able to say that about a game between us and Motherwell?!
A lot of our play this season has come through Nigel Hasselbaink, who causes no end of problems for opposition defences with his pace, dribbling and strength. Sadly, the likes of Stephen Craigan have been given a let off on that front as he's suspended after the rather harsh red card he received last week. That's led to much debate over who'll replace him and I reckon there are three contenders - Jon McShane, Kenny McLean and Graham Carey. If McShane comes in, it'll probably see us revert to a 4-4-2. If McLean comes in, it'll probably see Paul McGowan moved up front. However, if Carey comes in, the rest of the team can stay the same. OK, so he's rather podgy and doesn't have Hasselbaink's pace, but he does have a wicked dead ball delivery and can take a long throw in. He's my pick to replace Nigel - which means it'll probably be Paul McQuade...
The good news is Hasselbaink is only out for two games. However, Darren McGregor is out for the rest of the season after doing his ligaments at Tannadice. This is a huge blow to the player and it's not great news for Danny Lennon, especially with Lee Mair also struggling. Marc McAusland will almost certainly take McGregor's place and is likely to be joined by Dominic Kennedy if Mair fails to make it. The youngster would probably benefit from playing alongside someone like Mair when he gets a game, so a pairing of Kennedy and McAusland is a bit concerning. Also out are Hugh Murray, David Barron and Aaron Mooy.
As mentioned above, Motherwell have come flying out of the traps this season and must fancy their chances of making it three top six finishes in a row (the fact the last time they failed to make it was when Mark McGhee was in charge must be a coincidence). I'll be honest and say I didn't think appointing Stuart McCall was a wise move as he'd hardly done well during his time in charge at Bradford. However, they finished last season strongly - making the Scottish Cup final - and seem to have continued that momentum this year.
Unfortunately, McCall decided to pinch one of our best players over the summer. People can say what they like about Michael Higdon and his attitude, but he rattled in 15 goals last season. No Saints player has come close to that since we were promoted and in the last 20 years only Mark Yardley, Barry Lavety, Martin Cameron and John Sutton have bettered it. They were all in the first division, so to achieve that in a team that finished second bottom of the SPL is tremendous. He's still to get his first Motherwell goal, so he'll no doubt do it tomorrow. Pairing Higdon with highly rated youngster Jamie Murphy gives Motherwell a terrific strikeforce and one that would cause a full strength Saints defence problems, let alone the patched up version we could see tomorrow.
As if the loss of Hasselbaink's pace wasn't enough, we now come up against a side who have a pacey player of their own for the first time this season. Chris Humphrey was terrific last season and I'm sure I saw him linked with Liverpool over the summer, although that was probably just wishful thinking on his agent's part. The winger is a key player for Motherwell and one that must be watched. Elsewhere in the team, Tom Hateley's passing and set pieces can cause problems, while Stephen Craigan is still going strong in defence. Behind them all is Darren Randolph, a great keeper who has yet to concede a goal this season. However, like ourselves Motherwell will be without a defender for the rest of the season after Steven Saunders suffered an injury on Wednesday - ironically at Greenhill Road - while playing for Scotland under-21s.
I'm in two minds about what I want from this one. Like the Aberdeen game, this is a game we should be winning if we're to show the new style Saints are here to stay. However, with our injuries, suspensions and Motherwell's flying start to the season I suppose a draw wouldn't be the end of the world.
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