Livingston midfielder Richard Brittain has vowed to help his club make an immediate return to the Bank of Scotland Premier League - and is poised to sign a new deal to prove it.

The 22-year-old has progressed through the ranks at Almondvale to become an influential member of the playing staff and has no intentions of deserting his local club in their time of need.

Livi's relegation was confirmed with the 1-0 defeat at home to Inverness on Saturday - but manager John Robertson is plotting a swift return.

Negotiations over a new contract for West Lothian-born Brittain have already begun, and the youngster hopes terms can be agreed soon.

He said: "I'd like to stay; I'm enjoying my football and I'm local - so I hope we can get something done.

"We are in negotiations at the moment.

"I was on loan at Raith Rovers for six months in the 2003-2004 season and know the First Division is a tough league to get out of.

"It will be a shock to a few of the boys who haven't played there before, because there are some hardened players in the league. But I'm up for the challenge."

Brittain will line up against Motherwell on Wednesday night in Livi's final home game of the season, desperate to end a poor campaign at Almondvale on a high.

The loss to Caley came at the end of a poor display, and Brittain is looking for an improvement.

He added: "Saturday was really, really disappointing. I thought that was our worst performance of the season, not just under the new manager.

"When there was so much riding on the game you would have thought we would have been up for it and buzzing about.

"I thought we were really, really poor - so I hope we can make up for that tonight.

"The whole team looked flat on Saturday. But it is done now, and we need to try to lift ourselves to put on a show for the supporters who come to the Motherwell game.

"We owe it to the fans, our manager and more importantly ourselves to put on a performance."