The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Murray satisfied as Rovers score seven
Raith Rovers manager Ian Murray said his side were “a wee bit wasteful” in front of goal despite a 7-1 friendly win away to Dunbar United.
Murray, who moved to Stark’s Park from Airdrie almost exactly a month ago, got his preparations under way for the new season at New Countess Park with a high-scoring win.
The match was the testimonial for Dunbar’s Grant Thomson – a Rovers supporter.
Goals from summer recruit Dylan Easton, Aidan Connolly, Ethan Ross, Kieran Mitchell, trialist Brody Paterson and a double from Jamie Gullan made it a comfortable afternoon for the Kirkcaldy side.
Murray said: “It’s only the first pre-season game. The boys have been off for a few weeks and training is different to playing.
“I felt we showed a good understanding within the game and regardless of who you are playing against you have to show good movement and show that you can handle the situation. We did that.
“The negatives were that we lost a goal when we wanted to keep a clean sheet.
“And I felt that we were a wee bit wasteful in front of goal at times, but that comes with sharpness.
“I’m not too worried about it. It’s something we will look at.”
Despite playing against East of Scotland opposition, there were many eyecatching performances from the away side.
This included Easton, as well as fellow new signings Ross Millen and Scott Brown, while Paterson came off the bench at half-time.
The former Celtic youth looked sharp, attacking from his left-back position and capped off his display with a goal.
Some new signings still need to be, and will be, added but on Saturday the players on show functioned well in the shape Murray set them up.
“We started with a 4-3-3 and we have midfielders in there who want to come into it and get on the ball.
“We tried to keep our width as much as we could with Aidan and Dario (Zanatta) in the first half.
“There is a lot to work on. The understanding to keep the ball was there as was the hunger to actually take the ball which is something that takes time to teach.
“That was there so I was really happy with that.”
The Raith boss still has a number of players to welcome back.
Two of those were Lewis Vaughan and Ross Matthews, both of whom have had operations recently, though Vaughan’s was not related to his previous problems.
“They both went really well,” said Murray.
“It was a success on both counts.
“We’ll just get them back in over the next seven to 10 days and try and get them started on their rehab.
“After that we’ll see where they are.
“Hopefully we will have them both back in the next six to eight weeks, but it’s just something we’ll have to wait on.”