Laing considered quitting football during Motherwell exile

Louis Laing got so frustrated during his absence from the Motherwell first team that he even considered quitting football.

The 22-year-old only made two starts in five months after losing his place in the team shortly before Ian Baraclough's managerial reign ended.

The Newcastle-born defender admitted he found the situation difficult to deal with before returning to the team for the past three games.

"There's a lot of things going through your head,'' the former England youth international said.

"It's the worst thing in the world as a professional when you're not playing on a Saturday, and there's times this season where I've thought 'I'm going to hang the boots up'.

"But I've came through that period hopefully, I'm feeling confident in myself. But the main thing is getting wins for Motherwell.''

Laing, who signed a two-year deal in the summer, found himself behind Kieran Kennedy and then Ben Hall in the race to partner Stephen McManus in central defence.

He started Mark McGhee's first match in charge, a 1-0 defeat by Celtic in October, but his only other start came in a 3-0 loss at Ross County before his surprise recall at Tannadice last month.

"It's a hard 10 or 12 weeks where I wasn't in the team, at times not even being on the bench, so it was a frustrating time,'' he said.

"But the change of formation fell to my fortune against Dundee United when we played three at the back, and since then I've stayed in the team for the last three games, so hopefully I can keep impressing the manager and stay in the team for the rest of the season.

"Me and the manager have had quite a lot of talks, he's advising us what he wants us to do, and what I need to be doing. I suppose at the end of the day it comes down to myself and a lot of confidence.''

McGhee initially saw the potential to convert Laing to a holding midfielder but he returned to the team as one of three centre-backs before lining up at right-back during last weekend's win over Partick Thistle.

"It's quite a fortunate thing to be able to play in a few different positions,'' Laing said.

"I'm not sure where the manager sees my best position, but as long as I'm on the pitch I don't really mind where I'm put. I'll play in goal if I have to.''

Motherwell travel to Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton in the Premiership on Saturday.

The Steelmen have not scored in their last seven visits to New Douglas Park, which include a Scottish Cup defeat by Albion Rovers, but Laing is not concerned by their recent record across the M74.

"We're just focused on the job in hand,'' he said.

"What's happened before has happened, we can't do anything about that.

"But what we can focus on is what's going to happen on Saturday, and we're all prepared for the challenge ahead.''