Montrose are set to host Motherwell at Links Park in their second group stage game of Scotland's League Cup on Tuesday.
The home side finished last season in fourth place in Scotland's League One with 53 points from 36 games, while the visitors finished the overall top-flight season fourth last in ninth with 43 points.
Match preview
The hosts began their League Cup campaign with a 3-2 away defeat against Partick Thistle on Saturday.
In that match, Montrose initially took the lead thanks to a goal from Ben Maciver-Redwood in the 37th minute.
Though they managed to level the scoreline after going 2-1 down, manager Stewart Petrie will be disheartened that his side then conceded a third goal in the 75th minute, just 11 minutes after Ben Hermiston had scored Montrose's second.
Petrie has been in charge since December 2016 and took over when the team was in Scotland's League Two.
Since their first season in League One in 2018-19, the Gable Endies have only finished outside the top four of the division once, in 2022-23.
Despite this, Petrie will still be disappointed that he was unable to help his team gain promotion to the Scottish Championship last term given they had qualified for the promotion playoffs.
Montrose scored 58 goals and conceded 57, and this made them the division's joint fourth-best offensive and fifth-best defensive team.
The visitors come into the match having won 3-0 on Saturday against Edinburgh City in their first League Cup group game.
Prior to this, Motherwell did win two friendlies 4-2 and 2-1 against Linlithgow Rose and Livingston respectively.
However, it should be noted that they did end their 2023-24 Scottish Premiership season with two straight defeats against Hibernian and St Johnstone.
Manager Stuart Kettlewell has been in charge since February 2023, and he will be concerned that his side only averaged 1.13 points per game last term, a figure that is less than the 1.31 points per game they achieved in the 2022-23 top-flight season.
Interestingly, though their tally of 56 goals scored last term was three more than they scored in 2022-23, they did also concede 59 times, eight more than the season before.
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Team News
Ben Hermiston was subbed on for the hosts in their defeat against Partick Thistle and managed to score, so he could be in line for a start.
Elsewhere, striker Blair Lyons could be given a spot in the starting lineup after his return from suspension.
New signing Johnny Koutroumbis will still be unable to make his competitive debut for the visitors for at least another couple of months due to a calf injury.
Paul McGinn and Ross Callachan are also doubts, despite manager Kettlewell stating that they have made good progress in their respective recoveries.
Montrose possible starting lineup:
Matthews; Williamson, Smith, Quinn; Martin, Gardyne, Shrive, Steeves; Brown, Maciver-Redwood, Hermiston
Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Hegyi; O'Donnell, Balmer, Casey, Blaney; Wilson, Zdravkovski, Halliday; Paton, Ebiye, Wells
We say: Montrose 1-4 Motherwell
Although Montrose demonstrated their ability to create chances in their last League Cup outing, the fact that they conceded 11 minutes after equalising highlights a potential defensive vulnerability.
Additionally, as a top-flight side, Motherwell come into the game as strong favourites ahead of their League One opponents.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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