MORTON defender Ricki Lamie says he had forgotten what it felt like to concede a goal and so was fuming to see the ball hit the back of the net against Swansea despite the fact it was a friendly.

The Greenock men have been faultless at the back in their Betfred Cup campaign, recording a hat-trick of clean sheets in their first three fixtures.

According to Lamie, conceding twice against the Welsh outfit’s development squad on Tuesday night was a source of frustration to a group becoming accustomed to shutouts.

He told the Tele: “It’s always good to get off to a positive start and especially defensively: there have been few goals going in against us. What do I put that down to? 

“The young boys have come in and added to it, but the majority of the defenders have been together for a while. This is our third season and that has to be an aspect.

“Another is communication. The gaffer is always on at us about communication and organisation, and that has been spot on from the start of this season. I’ve noticed it anyway, and I’ve tried to add more of that to my game in terms of talking and passing on simple instructions, not necessarily screaming and shouting at each other.

“We saw it at Kilmarnock on Saturday. A lot of people were saying Kilmarnock played quite poorly, but I thought we were rigid and didn’t give them a sniff.

“And not just the defence — right through the team every person worked their socks off from the first minute to the 90th. We were spot on.

“We conceded a couple on Tuesday and there is a bit of leeway chopping and changing the defence and the full team for that game – but I don’t like losing goals full stop.

“It was a while since I last saw the ball hitting the back of my own net so, personally, I was annoyed conceding against Swansea, and the gaffer was as well. As I say it doesn’t matter where I’m playing — if it’s a five-a-side in training — I never like losing goals and especially when it was scrappy wee bobbles in the box and fell to them.

“But we have Berwick on Saturday and hopefully we can keep our good run going competitively and keep the ball out of the net.”

Centre-half Lamie played a significant role in the solid defensive displays against Clyde and Killie, and he has been thrilled to be back involved after playing a bit part in the second half of last season.

He added: “I had niggling injuries from early on in the season last year and it was frustrating, but you just need to bide your time and keep working hard. 

“I did a lot of work myself prior to pre-season to make sure that I was strong and fit to come back, got the vast majority of pre-season under my belt and it’s been good.

“It’s funny, I think this is the first time I’ve played two 90 minutes in a row since … I couldn’t actually tell you. Months ago anyway, so it’s been good from a personal perspective to get the sharpness back, because that’s what you need. You train all week and hope to be starting so it’s been brilliant so far this season and long may it continue.”

The Ton host Berwick Rangers in their final Group H game on Saturday, and Lamie hopes to retain his place and help the team qualify for the second round as well as earn seeding for the last 16.

He said: “I knew Kilmarnock were trailing and came back [against Berwick on Tuesday night], but if we do the business and take care of ourselves then we’ll be alright.

“We’ll approach it the same way as the other games and go into Saturday looking for the win and hopefully we’ll get through. 

“The best second placed is quite complicated, so we don’t want to be involved in that, and there is potential seeding at stake [as one of the four best group winners] so we want to do ourselves a favour.”