St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin admits he will be leaving nothing to chance as he bids to avoid having his name etched onto the Buddies’ roll of dishonour.
Saints are looking for the win which would leave them on the verge of a place in the second round of the Betfred Cup ahead of Saturday’s final Group G clash with Queen’s Park.
The Paisley outfit have only tasted defeat against Morton twice this century and Goodwin is adamant he will not be the man to oversee a third on Wednesday night.
Goodwin admits he might have been tempted to give some of his players a rest had they been facing any other team at the SMISA Stadium but with their bitter foes from Greenock in town, the Irishman will be taking no risks with his team selection.
He said: “We want to go on a good cup run and I believe we’re capable of that. We’ve got two really difficult games coming up but if we win both we’ll finish top of the group and qualify for the next stage.
“In any other fixture, we’d look to rotate and make wholesale changes but that won’t be the case on Wednesday.
“It might not be the exact starting XI from Dundee United on Friday but it’s certainly not be a case of giving some of the younger lads a run-out to see how they get on because there’s far too much at stake in this fixture.
“We want to go and win our Betfred Cup group anyway but the fact it’s against Morton adds to the occasion. I certainly don’t want to be the manager that loses against Morton and I know the players don’t want to be the group that loses to Morton.
“It’s a game we need to win regardless – even if it was a friendly. The fans demand it and we certainly demand it of each other.
“I spoke about it after training, that everyone is a little bit down in the dumps at the moment. What’s going on in the world is quite depressing before you add to that the facts fans can’t come in and support their team.
“So I said to the players it would be great to give the fans something to cheer about. There’s nothing better than beating your local rivals.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton will be looking to recover some confidence after their humiliating 8-0 hammering by Rangers on Sunday when they travel to Stranraer.
Brian Rice’s team suffered a shock 3-1 defeat to Annan in their Group F opener and a victory is a minimum if they are to stay in the hunt for the knock-out stages.
Airdrie will be looking to move up to second in Group H when they host Edinburgh City.
