Gannon pierces Motherwell gloom

By John Barnes

Jim Gannon says his Motherwell side are still maturing

Motherwell manager Jim Gannon says the league visit by Hearts offers his side the chance to recover from their Co-operative Insurance Cup exit.

Gannon has targeted maximum points at Fir Park on Saturday following the 3-0 cup defeat at the hands of St Mirren.

"We know we've got a team that's still maturing," he told BBC Scotland.

"We'll learn from the experience of Tuesday night and the players will be better for it. We'll see how they learn from that over the coming weeks."

Gannon, who has guided the Steelmen to fifth in the table this season, said his squad were still coming to terms with the demands of playing in Scotland's top flight.

"There's nothing we can do unless we were able to rest those players if we had depth of quality in our squad," he said.

We've got a great record having lost only one of our nine league games Motherwell manager Jim Gannon

"We've got some young players here who haven't got enough strength and fitness to play a full 90 minutes, never mind a full 90 minutes on a Saturday, then again on a Tuesday.

"At the moment we know these players have to learn from the experiences of playing back-to-back games.

"We know we've got a team that's still maturing. Some have got great character and great strength but a lot will become mentally stronger and physically more adept over the coming season."

Gannon said Hearts' visit offered his players the chance to refocus on their SPL campaign.

"We've got a great record having lost only one of our nine league games," he said.

"We've shown we can play good football. But we need to add a different dimension when we're attacking to be more of a threat from open play."