The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Rovers shaping up, says gaffer Murray
Ian Murray said he was much happier with his side’s efforts after Raith Rovers played out a 1-1 draw with Kelty Hearts.
Results are not to be taken too seriously at this stage but in terms of performance it was much improved on Wednesday night’s 2-1 home defeat to Queen of the South.
Jamie Gullan opened the scoring, his third goal of pre-season so far – after he scored twice versus Dunbar United – before Alfredo Agyeman equalised in the second half.
It was a much-changed side, and makeshift in places, with Scott Brown lining up at centre-half alongside captain for the day Liam Dick.
“The defence were great,” said Murray.
“They had a lot of the ball today and they moved it really well.
“I don’t think we gave away too many chances, I think they had one shot on target.
“It was a good finish from the boy. But if we’re looking at the bits we can get better at, we can’t let players come inside the box and get shots off. So we’ll need to work on that.
“But overall, compared to Wednesday night I felt it was a far better performance from us, in lots of ways.”
Raith dominated the opening period before Kelty emerged the better team in the second half.
Despite this, the best chance of it fell to the away side when Ross Millen met a cross from the left but fired over the bar.
“We’d like to create more at the other end,” said Murray.
“We had a couple of good chances, (trialist) Kareem (Isiaka) had one first half and Ross Millen had one second half.
“The positive side of that is it is our right-back getting in the box at the back post.
“Overall I’m much happier today than I was on Wednesday.”
Raith take on Alloa on Saturday in their final preseason friendly before the competitive action begins against Peterhead the following Wednesday.
All but one player came through this most recent outing unscathed, with goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald replaced in the second half.
The manager insists it isn’t anything to worry about, however: “It was purely precautionary. Hopefully he’ll be fine.
“At this stage there is no risk-taking. That was the only one, everyone else seems fine. Maybe tomorrow there’ll be a few bumps and bruises, but overall we’re happy with the injury situation.”