11.55am

Today's local press has an update on the injuries and suspensions that are currently disrupting the Motherwell squad. It seems that Scott Leitch's knee injury is not as serious as was first feared, although he will still miss the upcoming matches against Celtic and Dunfermline. On-loan Newcastle striker Richard Offiong, who twisted his ankle while on international duty with the England under-20 side, will also miss these two fixtures. Following his booking against Hibs, Derek Adams will be suspended for two games rather than the three originally reported, and he will miss the matches against Hearts and Aberdeen in March. David Cowan is expected to be fit for the Celtic game after picking up a knock against Hibs, while James McFadden will serve the last game of his four-match ban on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Terry Butcher admits he doesn't know yet how long Dirk Lehmann will be out for after the German was injured in training. TB said:
"We knew it was something serious when Scott had to come off on Saturday, but we are hopeful both he and Richard should be back for the Scottish Cup tie against Clyde. Dirk has injured his ankle and we’re going to have to wait until later on in the week before we find out more about how long he’s going to be out for."

Looking ahead to the visit of Celtic on Saturday, TB is uner no illusions as to how difficult a task his side will face:
"It would be nice to make it back-to-back wins, but you have to be realistic as Celtic are scrapping for everything at the moment. They have a big European game coming up next week and all their players will be desperate to do well at Fir Park. However, we’ve beaten them here already this season and we also played quite well at Parkhead, despite losing 3-1 and that gives us hope. To be honest I think we shocked them a bit when we beat them here earlier in the season, but they know what we are all about now and the element of surprise is now gone. All we can do is just go out on Saturday and give it everything we’ve got and see what happens."

Butcher was delighted with the fighting qualities his side showed against Hibs last week:
"I’m really pleased with the result and although we didn’t play that well, it was a good battling performance. We never really got into our stride until after the first goal, but as the game wore on I thought we started to play better, especially as it was a team who hadn’t played together that much. I thought our luck was out when Scott (Leitch) came off injured, but Derek Adams took over his role in the midfield and slotted in perfectly, while Shaun Fagan came on and did a really good job for us.

"I can’t speak highly enough of the young players as their can’t be many clubs who had a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old scoring on Saturday. David Clarkson has come in and led the line exceptionally alongside Steven Craig, while Shaun Fagan has always been there or thereabouts this season in terms of being involved with the first-team, as well as scoring some important goals. And Martyn Corrigan, as well as David Partridge and Tony Vaughan, had a tremendous game at the back, especially when Hibs were pushing for an equaliser in the last 20 minutes. Martyn has filled a variety of positions for us this season and I think he could easily play at a higher level. He has two lovely feet, great pace, and reads the game extremely well. Also, for a defender, he is quite happy with the ball at his feet and is always prepared to take it into the midfield, but his versatility make him such a valuable player. I think the major difference with Martin this season is that he has a lot more confidence and believes in his own ability which has shone through since the beginning of the campaign."

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