The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
MacDonald keen to spark cup run
Kieran MacDonald is hoping Raith Rovers can rediscover their shooting boots in the Scottish Cup – to help them hit their goals in their promotion push.
After a hat-trick of blanks, the Stark’s Park outfit scored for the first time in four games in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Ayr United.
The draw meant they still leapfrogged over rivals Dunfermline and Dundee to retake second spot in the table as the Championship season reaches the home straight.
But, ahead of the trip to face Stirling Albion tonight, MacDonald is hoping the Kirkcaldy side can now return to their early-season form in front of goal to spark a cup run and a league revival.
The left-back said: “You look forward to cup games, especially the Scottish Cup, and we’re actually glad it’s still getting played.
“It’s probably a good thing to get a wee break from the league because it’s really tight right now.
“It’s nice to get a different kind of game and hopefully we can get back winning and scoring goals.
“We just can’t seem to get ball into the back of the net at the moment. But, in everything else, we’re playing well and doing well.
“The league’s crazy but the draws haven’t been too bad. Away to Ayr is a decent point for us and up at Inverness. We just need to start scoring goals again.
“At the start of the season, that was the main thing we were doing. We were scoring a lot but now we just can’t seem to get any goals.
“But I’m sure it’ll come. “We’ve not won in four but we’re still sitting second top in the league. We would have taken that at the start of the season.
“Our main aim at the start of the season was to stay in the league but now it’s to get top-four.
“And we would love to get a wee cup run at the same time.”
● Steven Whittaker is convinced Dunfermline can cope with twin goals as they hit the road to Hampden against Morton tonight.
The Pars have stuttered in the Championship in recent weeks and dropped to third in the table with Saturday’s disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to Inverness Caley Thistle.
Stevie Crawford’s side have two games in hand but are just five points ahead of tonight’s opponents, who occupy eighth place in a crowded table.
With four games in 11 days, the Fifers face a potentially pivotal spell for both their cup and promotion ambitions.
But, having beaten Ton just 10 days ago in the league, Whittaker is confident the East End Park men can brush off inconsistency to ensure they are fighting on both fronts during the run-in.
He said: “It’s always nice to get a wee break in the season to try to get a cup run. That will be the aim, to progress, and we know we’ve got East Fife in the next round if we get through this.
“So, it’s a chance to hopefully win, get back on track and get a bit of a feelgood factor in the squad because we’re disappointed after Saturday.
“We’re fully aware that the congestion is going to be tough, there’s going to be a lot of midweek games and three games a week.
“But regardless of what the game is – cup or league – we go in to win it.
“Tuesday’s obviously the cup so our focus will be on that first and foremost. Hopefully we’ll progress in that and then we can look to the Dundee fixture on Saturday.
“Morton’s the team we’ve probably played the most this season – we’ve had three games – and they were the first team to beat us at East End Park.
“We went there and got a 0-0 and we’ve beaten them at home. It’s all been quite close.
“It will be tough down there, it’s a tough place to go and the pitch the last time we were down there wasn’t great. So, we’ll be fully aware of the type of game it might turn into.
“But progression in the cup is the most important thing.”