The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
McGlynn wants more of same after festive cheer for fans
John McGlynn has urged Raith Rovers to send their supporters into New Year on a high after providing some Christmas cheer with last weekend’s crucial win over Arbroath.
The Stark’s Park men became the first team to defeat the tabletoppers in the league this season when they earned a 2-0 victory at Gayfield last Saturday.
Now, faced with a tough derby against East Fife tomorrow, McGlynn is eager to see his team build on the boost of cutting Arbroath’s lead to 10 points at the summit of League One.
He said: “There was that feel-good factor of winning the Arbroath game leading into Christmas.
“I would imagine all the Raith Rovers fans, and particularly the ones that were up at Arbroath, had a good Christmas as well.
“We’ll try to turn that into a nice New Year as well. We’ve got to take the belief and confidence from winning that game.
“We were the first team to beat Arbroath in the league. They’ve been on an absolutely unbelievable run, as everyone knows. Just to do that was great.
“However, there is no point in beating Arbroath and then getting beat by East Fife in a derby game. There’s absolutely no point, whatsoever.”
Raith suffered a 2-1 defeat to East Fife last month when they lost to a 90th-minute Aaron Dunsmore strike, with McGlynn sent to the stand.
With a 2-2 draw between the teams earlier in the campaign, McGlynn admits there is plenty of motivation for Rovers to keep up the pressure on Arbroath with a much-needed victory.
He added: “I’ll have the last derby in my mind, probably for all the wrong reasons – being sent to the stand and losing a late goal. It wasn’t very nice. We want it to be better than that.
“I would like to think it will be motivation, because it wasn’t that long ago and it will probably be in the players’ minds as well.
“We’re all of the same mindset – there’s no point in beating Arbroath and narrowing that gap slightly, to let it get bigger again by losing against East Fife.
“It will be a difficult game. It’s a derby and we haven’t beaten them yet, so there’s one or two things we need to put right.”