Alan Solomons insists his Edinburgh side will pack a punch on Friday night against Ospreys as they look to get back to winning ways in the RaboDirect PRO12.

Edinburgh have lost their last three matches in the RaboDirect PRO12 and have dropped to eighth in the table as a consequence.

It will be the Scotsmen's first game at home since they beat Perpignan in the European Cup on January 11, but this game will be played at Boroughmuir's Meggetland venue.

In a bid to make it home sweet home for Edinburgh, head coach Solomons has brought back Scotland internationals Ross Ford and Geoff Cross at hooker and prop respectively – starting in place of James Hilterbrand and Willem Nel.

Harry Leonard and centre Sam Beard have also been promoted from the bench and replace the injured Tom Brown (thigh) and Nick De Luca (head knock) but Solomons sees the game being won and lost from in the pack.

"We've been able to pick a pretty strong pack and we know that the Ospreys too have a powerful set of forwards, so we're looking forward to meeting that challenge,” he said.

"This is an important game for us because these players have had a couple of games together as a group. We are now looking for a good performance on this third time out.

"It's important for the club, particularly as we're playing at home, to deliver a good performance that will give us the opportunity to get the result."

Ospreys have slipped to defeat in two of their last three RaboDirect PRO12 matches, but they have also lost fewer games away from home this season than they have at home.

The Welsh region's only victory in their last seven visits to Scotland was 15-14 over Edinburgh at Murrayfield in February 2012.

Back come Welsh internationals Justin Tipuric and Dan Biggar, while Tito Tebaldi starts at scrum-half.

But if they are to pick up their form Ospreys head coach Steve Tandy admits they have to recover from their 25-11 defeat at home to Munster last time out.

"The general mood after Munster was of frustration and disappointment,” he said. “When you are playing a good team like Munster you can't afford to turn the ball over like we did and not expect to get punished.

“Unforced errors meant that we were up against it despite at times putting some good rugby together, and we didn't get the reward that our approach to the game possibly deserved.

"It's a very quick turnaround for us, going Friday to Sunday, which obviously limits how much we can do in terms of working on where we let ourselves down against Munster.

“However, the boys have shown the right attitude and as coaches we've been trying to drive home the need for accuracy, attention to detail, and patience and reinforcing that we have to stay composed and not allow ourselves to get carried away.”

At Meggetland, 7.35pm. Live on BBC ALBA/BBC Wales
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU, 52nd competition game)
Assistant Referees: James Matthew, Stephen Ward (both SRU)
Citing Commissioner: Paul Minto (SRU)
TMO: Iain Ramage (SRU)