Liam Kelly puts Motherwell and Scotland rise from Rangers reserves down to East Fife success

Liam Kelly will always be grateful to East Fife for playing a key role in his journey from reserve football at Rangers to Premiership captain and Scotland squad regular.

The Motherwell goalkeeper got his first taste of SPFL action when he spent six months on loan at Bayview from Ibrox in 2016 - and walked away with his first league winners’ medal after just 16 games as the Fifers finished top of League Two. Despite being unsure of the loan deal when he was first told by Gers chiefs, Kelly now accepts it was a pivotal moment in his career that’s seen him go on to win more honours with Livingston and enjoy spells at QPR and now Well.

But the 27-year-old has no room for sentiment as he looks to send the Fifers tumbling out the Viaplay Cup and keep his ambition of adding to that medal collection alive with Well as winner takes all in the Group G decider at Fir Park. And Kelly said: “Amazing memories. I loved my time there. The goalscorer on my debut was Nathan Austin and he’s back there now and just scored a hat-trick in the group stage so I’m well aware of his threat!

“Those loans bring you back down to earth in terms of showing you you’re nowhere near as good as you think you are at that age. I thought I was just going out on loan from Rangers and would stroll into another Championship team and everything would be rosy. But no! Jim Stewart told me I was going to East Fife. It wasn’t a question he just told me I was going!

“It was a bit of a reality check for me but it showed that’s where I should have been in my career at that stage. I quickly realised these boys have all been somewhere before. They’ve all played at a high level and been academy players. You’re no different to these guys they’re just further on in their