Graham Alexander: Illness-hit Motherwell must show same spirit against Hearts

Motherwell manager Graham Alexander admits they will need to draw on the spirit that saw them over the line in Dingwall after being hit by more illness blows ahead of the visit of Hearts.

Kevin Van Veen shrugged off a bug to come off the bench and hit the winner against Ross County, while Callum Slattery also was restricted to a substitute’s appearance and others missed out completely.

The win took Motherwell into fifth place in the cinch Premiership and they can clinch a Europa Conference League spot if they beat Hearts, and Ross County fail to win at Ibrox.

However, Alexander has fresh selection issues.

“There’s a couple of lads have come back and trained but a couple more have caught the bug unfortunately since the weekend,” he said.

“We will see how we are and try and pick the fittest team that we can because we are going to need all the energy we can get on the pitch.

“The players mentally are in a good place. A lot to play for on the back of a great result but unfortunately that bug is causing a little bit of havoc at the minute.

“Four of the lads had to travel on a separate minibus. We tried to keep them separated from the coach because we didn’t want it spreading around. The main bus broke down on Friday so we had to wait for a replacement bus.

“So the prep wasn’t ideal but the players responded great to it, we had a real camaraderie on the way up.

“The four lads trained on Friday and it was the first time we had seen them all week and they didn’t look in great shape at the end of the session.

“But we knew we needed them in the group and they wanted to be there – and that’s the great thing. They want to be part of a group that achieves something.

“We showed great spirit on Saturday. Kev and Slatts came on and Kev