Airdrieonians v Motherwell: Lamie looking forward to lining up against first club Airdrie

Ricki Lamie began his senior career with Airdrie in 2012 and spent two seasons at the Excelsior Stadium (Pic: Neil Doig/JPI Archive)

Motherwell defender Ricki Lamie will return to the club where his senior career started when the Steelmen take on Airdrieonians on Wednesday.

Thee 28-year old had been with Whitburn Boys Club before a successful trial saw him earn a contract at the Excelsior Stadium.

After two seasons with the Diamonds and a handful of loan spells he made the move to Morton in 2014 where he spent four seasons before joining Livingston in 2018 and Well in 2020.

“It should be a good one,” said Lamie.

"It will be a tasty encounter and another tough test but we’ll give 100 percent effort.

"Airdrie were my pathway in to senior football, I went in there as part of the youth set up and joined up with the first team after six months.

"I made a decent amount of appearances for a young guy before going out on loan and getting the experience they thought I needed.

"I went back and got another bunch of games before making the step up to full time.”

The Steelmen go in to the game with two wins from two in their Premier Sports Cup group stage matches.

A win over Airdrie would ensure their qualification for the knockout stages as group winners but Lamie knows from experience that the League 1 side will provide a stern test.

"It’s tough both ways,” said Lamie.

"It’s like a cup final for the lower league teams, I actually played against Motherwell for Morton in the cup and I have always loved cup games.

"Every game you’re involved in you want to win.

"I’ve seen both sides and there’s always an upset in every fixture list in this competition and others.

"We'd be very naive to go in to this match not expecting a tough game, we know Airdrie will be looking to take a scalp.

"Playing at our level you need to be wary of that but go out and show you’re playing at this level for a reason and you have the quality and fitness to get a result.”

With Airdire having beaten Queen’s Park on penalties last Saturday they know that a positive result could put them in the mix to qualify for the knockout stages either as a best placed runner up or as group winners.

Motherwell will face Annan Athletic on Saturday in their final group stage match hoping to have already secured qualification.