Friendships will be cast aside at Fir Park today when Caley Jags defender Louis Laing lines up against his former club Motherwell.
Inverness have been cut four points adrift of the Steelmen at the foot of the Premiership after a dire run of one win from their last 21 matches, but have the chance to move to within a point of their hosts with a victory.
Laing spent two years with the Lanarkshire outfit, which he initially joined on loan from Nottingham Forest in January 2015 before making the deal permanent six months later.
Having joined Caley Jags in February, the 24-year-old will line up against many of his former team-mates this afternoon, including some who will be at his wedding when he marries fiancee Megan in June.
But Laing has warned there will be no pleasant exchanges this afternoon given the importance of the game.
He said: “There’s a couple of them I’m still close with. I’m getting married in the summer and a couple of the boys from Motherwell are coming to the wedding. I’ll forget about that when it comes to Saturday. We’re all professionals.
“I’m sure we’ll all want to fight each other, it’s that sort of mentality, but after the game we’ll shake hands and become friends again. For that 90 minutes we’ll be forgetting all that.
“I’m just preparing for it like the same as any other game. I would obviously like to go there and win. We are both struggling teams.
“I’ve got friends in the Motherwell dressing-room and the last thing I’d want is for them to get relegated. The best scenario would be for Motherwell and Inverness to both stay up. It’s going to be a tough game and I’m ready for a battle.”
Inverness have just six games left to retain their top-flight status but, despite his team being written off as destined for the Championship next season, Laing remains upbeat.
The Englishman added: “Looking at the league table, we’re the underdogs. Everyone is probably looking at us being the team to go straight down.
“No one thinks that in the dressing-room or at the club. Everyone is pretty positive and optimistic – we know we’ve got the players to get ourselves out of it. Every single person at the club believes we will.
“It just depends on your mindset. Some players might be driven by being written off, some might not.
“For other teams looking in, I don’t think it makes a difference. Everyone is in a dogfight, so it won’t affect anyone else’s mindset at all.”
