Mark McGhee pleased Well's selection woes are easing
Motherwell manager Mark McGhee admits the return of three of his senior players is a major boost ahead of the visit of Hearts.
Steven Hammell and Keith Lasley are back from injury for Saturday's Ladbrokes Premiership match and Stephen McManus returns from suspension.
McGhee, whose team slipped to second bottom last weekend, said: "There's three very experienced players that we desperately need back in the selection process.
"The young lads need that experience around them. I want to be putting in young players so I do want that support from the more seasoned lads.
"It's vital not just to their development, but also to getting results. We have more chance of getting results if we have that balance right."
Hammell has missed much of the last 16 months with groin problems and Motherwell have struggled for much of that time.
"He's champing at the bit," McGhee said. "He brings that calmness, he's one of the guys that will put his foot on it and slow it down and make a pass. He doesn't just return it back to the opposition. We need someone to bring a bit of experience to the possession."
Motherwell fell to a 3-0 defeat against Ross County last weekend with Kieran Kennedy and Louis Laing in central defence and McGhee said: "We played two very inexperienced centre-halves together and they found it difficult and that's why we need Stephen McManus back.
"But part of what we want to do here is bring the youth through in the team so it's not a case of me running out in January to buy six players so we can finish fourth bottom of the league.
"But having the experienced boys back and a smattering of young boys coming through, we are confident we will make progress."
Meanwhile, Hearts defender Blazej Augustyn insists they can win the league - and it would only be a surprise to Celtic and not his team-mates.
Hearts missed the chance to cut the gap on the leaders to four points last Saturday when they drew at home to Dundee, a result which prompted head coach Robbie Neilson to claim his team did not have the consistency to mount a title challenge.
Neilson continues to target a top-six place first and foremost but Augustyn is happy to proclaim his lofty targets in public.
And he has taken heart from Celtic's recent difficulties, which continued with a 2-1 home defeat to Ajax on Thursday that saw them crash out of the Europa League.
The Polish defender said: "We can see Celtic are not as good as a few years ago and I don't think they have a team like they had before.
"But we have to step on the floor and work. That's why Robbie gets us to work hard and we just follow his way.
"I think we are good enough to win or stay close to Celtic. We win against good teams and we play good football. We can do it."
When it was put to him that a Hearts title would be a major surprise, the summer signing said: "We don't care about that. We just want to win and that would be their problem, not our problem.
"Maybe it will be a big surprise to them but not for us because we are working for that."
Juanma Delgado returns from suspension for the game and Neilson also hopes to have Billy King in his squad after the midfielder went off with a knee injury against Dundee.
Alim Ozturk will continue his comeback from hernia surgery in the Under-20s next week and Jamie Walker and Soufian El Hassnaoui are still not ready to play following knee problems.
Source: PAR
