The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Smith hails Raith board for new face green light
U-turn sees Kirkcaldy boss handed funds to strengthen defence
Raith boss Barry Smith has thanked the club’s board for releasing funds to enable him to strengthen his squad.
Rovers’ roster is stretched at the moment in defence with centre-half Kyle Benedictus out with a leg fracture while full-back Kevin McHattie has been ruled out for a minimum of six weeks after seeing a specialist on Tuesday.
Smith was initially told there was no money to bring in a reinforcement but the board have now performed a U-turn.
The manager admits he has several irons in the fire and while he would not be drawn on the identities of potential targets, he did insist the new addition has to be the right one.
He said: “We are quite short of numbers defensively with Kevin and Kyle being out. So after some consultation, the board have been very good and are allowing me to bring in another player.
“It is not just about bringing in anyone – it has to be the right person. But I am grateful they have come up with some money to bring someone else in.
“Credit to them for understanding the situation.”
Raith continued their fine start to the season with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Queen’s Park at Hampden on Saturday.
However, Smith insisted that no one at the table-topping side is resting on their laurels.
He said: “At the moment we are working hard and doing very well as a team. Sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn’t but we are scoring goals and keeping clean sheets which is the most important thing.
“What we are saying to the boys is that we are progressing as a team.
“We keep asking questions. Even at half-time on Saturday when we were 2-0 up we were asking questions.
The players want to get better and if you have a team that wants to do that then it is very encouraging.”