Graham Alexander hopes to get Motherwell skipper Declan Gallagher more vital match minutes in a bounce game tomorrow that could help seal his return to the starting line-up.
The Fir Park gaffer watched his side ease to a 3-1 victory over Livingston yesterday but they are not in competitive action again until March 20, when they travel to Kilmarnock in their final game before the split.
Although the break may come at an inopportune time for the Steelmen - having gone three games unbeaten for the first time in over a year - it will allow them to get the likes of Gallagher and other recovering stars on their way back to full fitness.
The Scotland international was sidelined with a muscle injury and has made two appearances from the bench, against Hibs and Livi, in the last fortnight.
And he could be in contention to start when ‘Well head to Rugby Park.
Alexander said: “We’ve got a bounce game on Monday, we are going to be training exceptionally hard because we need to go into that Kilmarnock game firing on all cylinders.
“Hopefully the two weeks will give us the opportunity to get players back up to speed that are just starting to come back.
“It will be an important two weeks for us because we want the strongest squad we can get.
“Dec has been training for two weeks and he’s worked exceptionally hard to get up to the levels we expect.
“We’ve got that bounce game and I’m sure that will be great for him to get minutes because it’s been quite a while for him.
“All our big players we need ready to play because we’ve got some big games coming up.”
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