The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
McGlynn aims for a double celebration
John McGlynn is desperate for Raith Rovers to get back to winning ways this afternoon – not least because he doesn’t want to put a dampener on the wedding celebrations of number two Paul Smith.
Smith will miss the trip to Ochilview to face Stenhousemuir because of his marriage ceremony, which was arranged long before he returned to Rovers in September as assistant.
McGlynn is scheduled to join his long-term sidekick tonight for a party, but admits he might not be in the mood unless the Stark’s Park men bounce back from their derby defeat to East Fife.
He said: “Paul is getting married on Saturday, so unfortunately he won’t be at the game.
“So we’ll need to win, because I’m going (after the match) and I don’t want to be sitting there like a raging bear!”
Rovers were left a massive 10 points behind League One leaders Arbroath when they let a one-goal advantage slip in the 2-1 loss to East Fife last weekend.
Just over a third of the way through the campaign, there remains plenty of time left for the Kirkcaldy outfit to claw themselves back into a title race with the Red Lichties.
But McGlynn insists they will have to learn lessons from the way they lost out at Bayview.
He added: “We were ahead at half-time but it probably came back to bite us that we weren’t further ahead.
“The fact is we were miles ahead in the first half and should have been two or three up, and we should have been putting the foot to the floor.
“But it would seem that it is something we need to develop, that mentality of continuing to play with the same intensity and tempo and creating chances in the second half, as much as we were doing in the first-half.
“It’s an ongoing thing and we need to try to eradicate that as soon as possible.
“The players have responded very openly and honestly this week. We did video analysis on Monday and we got it out the way early in the week.
“We had very open and honest and frank discussions, very much as it was after the game. Everyone here is for the same cause.
“We’ve got to learn from it and we look forward to the game this weekend. The players have trained well but we’ve got to do it on matchday.
“Talking’s cheap, actions are what it’s all about.
“Stenhousemuir may be sitting at the bottom of the table but they looked like they played well last weekend and we cannot take this team lightly.
“We’ve got to hit the ground running and if we get ourselves in front we’ve got to build on that and we need to go for the entire 90 minutes.”