'WELL FEAR HEARTS AVENGERS

Motherwell assistant manager Maurice Malpas is expecting a revenge attack against Hearts.

Terry Butcher and his number two, who have concerns over a number of players following a flu-bug scare, believes John Robertson will have his players charged up at Fir Park after becoming their bogey team this season.

Motherwell have beaten Hearts three times out of three this season - including an extra-time CIS Insurance Cup semi-final victory - and they are preparing themselves for a backlash.

Malpas said: "Hearts have had a couple of good results back-to-back against Kilmarnock and will be looking to pick up the points in the league. They will be looking for revenge because we have also picked up points against them.

"We expect them to come with a big score to settle on Saturday."

Robertson has turned his side's fortunes around and Malpas never doubted he would be a big success.

The former Inverness boss caught the imagination of the Gorgie faithful as a player but many feared he would jeopardise his hero status after replacing Craig Levein.

He entered Tynecastle amid huge off-the-field problems which forced him to sell some of his best players.

Not surprisingly results suffered for some time but Malpas believes the ambitious Edinburgh outfit have turned the corner.

He said: "I think every manager and coach has sympathy for every other manager in the current climate.

"Craig did a great job at Hearts and John had a huge job to go in and replace him after the success they enjoyed.

"But I've spoken to Robbo and he is trying to stamp down his own style to take the club forward.

"He has had to sell players but he has made sound signings and they seem to have turned the corner.

"Obviously John has proved how good a manager he is and he has a great future."

Motherwell go into the clash in buoyant mood after finally getting a point in the Bank of Scotland Premier League for the first time in seven matches.

They drew with Tony Mowbray's Hibernian on Tuesday and now face the other half of the capital.

"It was a relief to get off that mark," added Malpas. "We seemed to get stuck there for a while. But we got a point and now we've got to build on that going into that cup final.

"We were maybe disappointed not to get more from Tuesday but the confidence is there and and we have to take that on and get a victory."

The club are awaiting reports on a number of players following a flu bug.

A number of first-teamers were sent home to rest after being affected following their 1-1 draw with Hibernian at Fir Park during the week.

Malpas added: "We have got a couple of the boys struggling with flu.

"It's a concern for us today because of the size of the squad but we are hoping they will recover in time.

"I'm not going to say who they are. We'll have a look at it tomorrow."

Motherwell are already without former Celtic midfielder Phil O'Donnell with an Achilles strain.

Taken from sportinglife.com