Motherwell will face Queen’s Park, Queen of the South, East Fife and Elgin City in the group stage of the 2023/24 Viaplay Cup group stage.
The Steelmen return to competitive action in July for the four cup matches in Group G.
The fixtures are as follows:
(A) Elgin City | Saturday 15 July | 3pm
(A) Queen of the South | Tuesday 18 July | 7.45pm
(H) Queen’s Park | Saturday 22 July | 5.15pm
(H) East Fife | Saturday 29 July | 3pm
All group stage winners will qualify for round two of the Viaplay Cup, with the three best runners-up also reaching the next stage.
Queen’s Park
A familiar opponent in this competition, Queen’s Park have faced Motherwell twice in the League Cup since 2017.
The most recent meeting between the two sides was our group stage opener at Firhill, where Steven Lawless scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win for the Steelmen.
Queen’s Park earned back-to-back promotions and only narrowly missed out on the cinch Championship title on the last day of the season.
Since that match and exiting the playoffs, manager Owen Coyle parted company with the club and the position of manager remains vacant at Queen’s.
Two familiar faces are amongst the Spiders’ squad currently, with Dom Thomas and Liam Brown signed up for the 23/24 season.
It was announced that Queen’s Park would play their home matches at Hampden Park this season.
Queen of the South
Despite the draw not being regionalised this term, there would be a second well-know group stage opponent.
Queen of the South and Motherwell have went head-to-head in the cup at the start of the 2018, 2019 and 2021 seasons.
In those three meetings, Motherwell have a 100% record. It was a memorable return for the Fir Park faithful for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, as Queen of the South took a 2-0 advantage before Motherwell turned the game on it’s head to take the three points.
Marvin Bartley was appointed manager of Queen of the South during last season, which saw an upturn of fortunes. The Doonhamers only finished three points off of the League One playoffs last season.
Queen of the South have already been active in the summer window, with Jordan Houston joining from Ayr United and Murray Johnson arriving on loan from Hibernian earlier this month.
Former Motherwell man Stephen Hendrie was amongst the ranks last season and it would appear he will be a part of Bartley’s plans for next season.
East Fife
East Fife made the playoffs last term, however were beaten by Clyde over two legs.
Motherwell made the trip to Bayview back in 2015, when it turned out to be a long night for the travelling ‘Well fans.
Nathan Austin, who re-joined the club last month, gave the hosts the lead on the night. The Fifers looked on track for a famous victory had it not been for Louis Moult’s equaliser on 80 minutes to take the match to extra time.
Subsequent goals from Scott McDonald and Lionel Ainsworth seen Motherwell eventual 3-1 winners.
Former Motherwell man and scorer in our Europa League third qualifying round second-leg match against Aalesunds, Jonathan Page, is under contract at East Fife.
Elgin City
Two wins and a draw in their last five matches of the 22/23 season, ensured Elgin City avoided the relegation playoff in League Two.
Kane Hester proved to be their main man last season, scoring 18 goals however he has since made the switch to Montrose.
Following the conclusion of the season, Ross Draper was announced as Elgin City manager on a three-year deal.
Fixture dates for the competition will be confirmed shortly.