KEITH LASLEY need not look far for inspiration ahead of tomorrow's Scottish Cup tie with Dundee United.

As the Motherwell captain walks through Fir Park, there are two stands at the Lanarkshire ground which bear the names of icons who played a heroic role in their last triumph.

Twenty three years have flown by since both Davie Cooper and Phil O'Donnell hoisted aloft the oldest trophy in world football at Hampden following a 4-3 extra-time win against, fittingly, United.

It would go down as one of the most famous and arguably the greatest cup final the nation has ever seen, with the late and great O'Donnell grabbing his first-ever goal in claret and amber to put the Steelmen 2-1 ahead with Cooper providing two assists.

And as Lasley and the rest of the Motherwell players prepare for their latest assault in the competition against the same opposition as back in 1991, he is well aware what a repeat of that extraordinary feat would mean to everyone connected with the club.

"We've not won the cup since 1991 and I know that it is something that everybody at the club really craves," said the Well captain. "As one of the most experienced players at Motherwell I'm desperate to get back to Hampden.

"The Scottish Cup is always a special occasion no matter what your league form is like. With the way the draw is this year it's very open. A lot of top teams are playing each other and it means we are desperate to get through and play a bigger part.

"It's all about tomorrow and we'll need to be fully focused on it."

Lasley doesn't need to gaze at the names on the side of the Fir Park stands or the pictures of celebration which adorn every corridor to find his motivation, however.

In 2011 the midfielder played in the Scottish Cup final against Celtic in a match that Motherwell lost 3-0.

It remains the closest the Lanarkshire club have come to lifting silverware with recent cup exploits being a major disappointment to him and ex-manager Stuart McCall, especially given they have finished second twice and third once in the last three seasons on league duty.

And despite their current predicament which sees them two points off bottom of the SPFL Premiership, Lasley is hopeful Well can put things right.

He said: "In the first year of Stuart's reign we made it to the semi-final of the League Cup [Lasley scored as Motherwell went down 2-1 to Rangers] and the final of the Scottish Cup.

"Since then it's been a little bit disappointing. The luck hasn't gone our way on a few occasions and the consistency in the cups hasn't really stacked up to that of the league in the last few years.

"That's probably been one of the difficult things, especially when you see clubs of a similar stature like St Mirren and Kilmarnock having cup success. We feel we've not done as well we should have.

"When we got to the final against Celtic it was a great run even though the result didn't go our way. We had so many fans there and it's something myself and the rest of the team would dearly love to rectify."

Lasley added: "On their day United are as good as anyone in the league.

"I'm sure they will still be coming to us full of confidence but from our point of view we need to take heart from the fact the last time we played at Fir Park we put on a good show and beat them.

"It will take a similar performance and determination to do it again."