The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Benedictus calls on Raith Rovers not to let their standards slip in derby clash
Raith head for Bayview sitting pretty at top
Kyle Benedictus insists Raith Rovers cannot afford to let their standards drop against East Fife as they bid to prove their Stranraer collapse was a one-off.
The Stark’s Park side head into today’s Fife derby on top of League 1 and desperate to avoid the late slip-up that gave them their only league defeat on their last away day a fortnight ago.
Leading 2-1 with just seven minutes remaining, Rovers succumbed to a shock 3-2 defeat.
Benedictus is convinced last weekend’s 3-0 victory over Montrose proved they had learned their lessons from the Stair Park nightmare.
But he has warned they will have to be on top of their game if they want to prevail against their local rivals this afternoon.
He said: “It was good to bounce back from our first defeat. We were obviously disappointed at Stranraer, but it was good to get a win last weekend.
“It took a lot longer than we wanted but that might happen when we’re playing at Stark’s Park. Some teams will sit in.
“But we have to hope our full-time fitness helps us and that’s what paid off in the end against Montrose.
“We always look back at the videos of the previous game and we had to see what went wrong against Stranraer.
“As a team, I don’t think we defended well and that’s what we were punished for. We’ve been working on that in training and looking to make it better, and that’s what we’ll try to do every week.”
Raith only took four points from a possible 12 against today’s opponents last season, losing twice and only winning their first derby in the final one in March.
And Benedictus is expecting another tough 90 minutes at Bayview this afternoon.
He added: “They were good games against East Fife last season, they were very competitive. It’s a derby game, so it’s obviously going to be about who wants it more. Last season, we didn’t do well enough against East Fife, so we’ll need to make sure we’re at it and hopefully get a good win.”
East Fife manager Darren Young is determined to pull to within a point of the Kirkcaldy table-toppers.
Young said: “The derby games were good for us last year. They were not so good in my first season here, but we enjoyed a good bit of success in my second year.
“They are top of the league but that does not add anything to the game. There are enough reasons for us to want to win without looking at knocking them off a perch after just four games.
“Raith are scoring a lot of goals just now so we need to be on our guard. All I have asked from the players is to play as well as we did last weekend.
“It was a really good performance and the 4-1 win never flattered us. It was a good way to get our first league success and I have to praise the players for being more clinical with their finishing.
“I was critical when we drew 1-1 with Peterhead as we had 18 attempts on target and just scored once. Last Saturday we had 12 attempts and scored four times. That is a much better ratio and we will need that level of finishing against Raith as they do not lose a lot of goals.”
Chris Duggan, who joined Young’s side from the Rovers during the summer, misses out after being injured in the Fife Cup Final. Kyle Bell and Kevin Smith are still out.