The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Rovers boss looking for home comforts
Raith boss Barry Smith is looking for some home comfort against Queen’s Park this afternoon after a week to forget on the road.
Rovers lost three games in the space of seven days with the defeat at Dumbarton in the Challenge Cup on the 11th of this month followed by a midweek reverse at Ayr in the league with the Kirkcaldy club then being dumped out of the Scottish Cup last Saturday at Peterhead.
In mitigation, Raith have recently been without five first-team regulars because of injury and, while only two of those might be available for the League One game against the Spiders, Smith is insistent that what happened last week is in the past and the focus shifts to what is ahead of his team.
And the manager stressed that his side, who are just three points behind league leaders Ayr with a game in hand, are still on course to achieve their primary aim this season – promotion to the Championship.
Smith said: “Last week was obviously a difficult one for us but it is important that we move forward now.
“They were three tough away games and the boys have had a lot of travelling but we will not be making excuses.
“We need to move on quickly and fully focus on the Queen’s Park game.
“It is at Stark’s Park and we have a great record at home this season.
“The fans have played a big part in that, really getting behind the boys.
“The support has been brilliant and I am sure it will be the same against Queen’s Park.
“The players really respond to their backing.”
Smith added: “We scored five and kept a clean sheet the last time we played Queen’s at Hampden so we should approach the game with confidence as we look to get back to winning ways.
“We are still on schedule to where we want to be this season.
“Even when we were top of the league, we never wavered – this is a long campaign and there are still loads of games and points to play for.”
Raith will once again be without the injured Kyle Benedictus, Bobby Barr and Kevin Mchattie while Lewis Vaughan and Iain Davidson who also missed last week’s game at Peterhead, are still rated doubtful.