St Johnstone midfielder Liam Craig is unlikely to be surprised by anything Motherwell come up with in Saturday’s Betfred Cup last-16 tie at Fir Park.

The two sides battled out a 1-1 draw in the Premiership at McDiarmid Park only last Saturday before Saints extended their unbeaten run to nine games with a 2-2 draw against Hibernian at Easter Road on Tuesday night.

Craig concedes the fixture scheduling is just a quirk of Scottish football.

The 33-year-old midfielder said: “We look forward to it. We obviously played them last week as well so we know each other well.

“When you have a country the size of ours it is inevitable that it’s going to happen.

“I was speaking to a couple of Hibs boys the other night and they beat Dundee (in the group stages) to play Dundee (in the last-16).

“It is a bit mad but one we are looking forward to and we see it as an opportunity to have a good cup run as Motherwell will as well.

“We take a lot of positives from the run we are currently on and the result and performance at Easter Road the other night.

“There were a lot of changes in the team but again we showed we have a good squad, albeit a small squad.

“Getting out of the group was the first thing we wanted to do. We knew it was going to be tough obviously with Dundee United in the group as well.

“So to win it and qualify unbeaten and build on it as well, means we take a lot of confidence into the game tomorrow.

“We want to go as far as we can in the cup competitions, and we’ve got an opportunity tomorrow against a good Motherwell team but we know if we apply ourselves properly as we have done in the last couple of months then we have a real opportunity to get through.”

St Johnstone’s fine run of form started with a 2-1 Betfred Cup group stage win away to Kelty Hearts but Craig believes performances have been encouraging all season.

He said: “The cup games probably came at a good time.

“But even before that I don’t think the performances were bad, we just didn’t carry that little bit of composure and luck in the opposition box.

“We were losing games earlier in the season and now we are drawing them or winning them and we want to turn those draws into wins.”