The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Wounded animal Forfar pose threat to Raith’s title bid
Rovers boss McGlynn warns players to expect difficult test against strugglers
John McGlynn has warned Raith Rovers to expect a Forfar Athletic side “fighting for their lives” when the teams clash at Stark’s Park this afternoon.
Despite some frustration at allowing victory to slip through their grasp after taking the lead early in the second half, Rovers were content to stay top of League 1 after Tuesday’s 1-1 draw against second-placed Falkirk.
At the same time, the Loons were losing to Dumbarton to leave them rooted to the relegation play-off spot in second bottom in the table.
But despite the visitors’ lowly position, McGlynn insists Raith will today need as big a performance as they produced for the visit of their title rivals in midweek.
He said: “If we had picked up three points on Tuesday night against Falkirk it would have been the same three points as we will get if we beat Forfar.
“Every game’s big and Forfar were beaten this week so they are still lingering around about that play-off position for relegation.
“They’re fighting for their lives, these teams, and there are no easy games, as we saw last Saturday at Dumbarton (when Rovers lost 1-0).
“Every game in this league is tough and I sound like a broken record on that, but every game is.
“I’m sure Falkirk will find some tough games between now and the end of the season as well.
“We’ve got a quarter of the season to go. We’ve all got each other to play and we’ve got five at home and four away.
“All along we’ve taken it one game at a time and it’s all about Forfar now. We know they’ll be an awkward and difficult opponent.
“We drew here and we’ve also drawn up there and beaten them up there. We just have to perform as well as we did on Tuesday and get all three points.”
Raith looked set to open up a fourpoint advantage at the summit of the league when on-loan Hearts striker Steven MacLean shot them into a hardearned lead against Falkirk on Tuesday.
But Declan McManus, on loan from Ross County and a former Rovers player, levelled things up in a full-blooded second half.
McGlynn added: “There was good entertainment and I think both teams got good backing from both sets of supporters.
“Our play was very, very good and we’ve got to take a lot of confidence from that because Falkirk were big favourites to win the league and we played very well against them.”