RICKIE Lambert will go in search of his first West Brom goal on Saturday, as he bids to become the latest ex-Saint to score against his former club.

The striker, who was a hero at St Mary's during his time on the south coast, moved to The Hawthorns this summer after a difficult year with his boyhood team, Liverpool.

Lambert is without a goal in his first five appearances for the Baggies, but he will be looking to put that right if he lines up against his former employers this weekend.

Saints are no strangers to conceding goals to their former players in the Premier League era, with a long line of them having achieved the feat - from big-name stars such as Gareth Bale, Alan Shearer and Theo Walcott, to others such as Fitz Hall, Leon Best and Matthew Mills.

Lambert doesn't have much experience of finding the net since he left Saints, however.

Since joining Liverpool in the summer of 2014, he has scored just three goals.

But he is hoping the opportunity to play more regularly with West Brom - he started just seven Premier League games with the Reds last season - will help him recapture the sort of form he displayed in his five years at Saints, where he scored 117 times and became a regular in the England squad.

"It is only two years ago that I scored against Scotland," said Lambert earlier this summer, referring to the night he netted the winner in a 3-2 victory at Wembley with the first touch of his international debut.

"I scored 15 goals and then 13 goals for Southampton and, obviously, it is over a year since I did that, but I have just got to get back to that now."

The 33-year-old will almost certainly be given a wonderful reception by the travelling Saints fans, who gave him a standing ovation when he came on against them for Liverpool on the opening day of last season.

Lambert was an unused sub in the fixture at St Mary's later in the season, and it was on the bench where he spent too much of his time at the Merseyside club.

It is not something Lambert wanted to dwell on when asked about it a few weeks ago, though.

"I've got a lot of feeling, to be honest," he said. "I'm not going to get into it right now.

"I feel as if I've got a point to prove to myself. That's always the biggest drive, yourself."

Saints fans will surely hope he does prove that point - just not this Saturday.