The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Playmaker will seize opportunity at Raith
Rovers prepare for must-win clash against Arbroath
Raith Rovers midfielder Tony Dingwall admits he is determined to take his chance at Stark’s Park after being gutted he was not deemed worthy of one at Ross County.
The 24- year-old joined J oh nMcGlynn’ s League One promotion hopefuls on an 18-month deal in January and is loving being back involved in competitive football after being limited to only 107 minutes of league action with the Staggies during the first half of the season.
The playmaker made his debut for County in August 2014 and went on to make a total of 20 appearances for the Highland outfit in their top-flight campaign.
Dingwall also featured heavily during the next two seasons before he broke his hand and then sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his knee in
March 2017.
Those setbacks effectively signalled the end of the Inverness-born player’s time at the club and Dingwall is disappointed he was continually overlooked by joint managers Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson.
He said: “I broke through when I was younger but then I picked up a few injuries, I did my ACL and broke my hand and that sets you back.
“It was eight, nine months’ recovery with the ACL – it takes a while.
“Since then I never really got properly back in the team apart from a game here or there.
“I felt that I didn’t get a fair chance but they might say something else.
“They didn’t want to throw me in at the end of the season when we were fighting relegation as well but we were bottom of the league anyway and there was nothing to lose I feel.
“I spoke to the gaffers and said that I’d been waiting on my chance for a fair while, and they basically said that they couldn’t promise that I was going to get regular game time.
“I said I’d rather move elsewhere. “I could have sat there for another six months but it wouldn’t have done me any good and come the summer I would have been in a similar situation.
“Hopefully I can get regular game time under my belt here and see what happens from there.”
Manager McGlynn has labelled today’s visit of runaway leaders Arbroath as a must-win if second-place Raith are to have any hope of clinching the title and Dingwall agrees.
“If we don’t win then we know clinching the title is basically impossible,” he said.
“We’re hoping we can get three points at the weekend and then they slip up – you never know what can happen.”
Arbroath boss Dick Campbell also admitted today’s game is hugely important to both teams.
However, he refused to be drawn into a war of words with McGlynn after the Rovers boss suggested the Red Lichties’ title bid may be faltering.
Speaking on Thursday, McGlynn said, “They have done magnificently well.
“However, there does seem to be one or two cracks appearing now and it is up to us to take advantage.”
The Stark’s Park manager was referring to the fact the Angus side have dropped five points in their last two games including two in Tuesday night’s draw in the re-arranged fixture against Stranraer at Gayfield that ended 1-1.
Despite that, Arbroath still extended their lead at the top of the table to 13 points ahead of this afternoon’s crunch clash.
Campbell said: “It was still a point gained for us at this stage of the season.
“I will now freshen things up a bit for a massive game at Stark’s Park.
“It is a game with huge implications for both sides but it is one they have to win.
“We were 13 points in front of them in December and we are still 13 points ahead in February so I don’t see many cracks appearing.”