Rovers out but not down after Ibrox cup defeat
IAN MURRAY hailed his depleted Raith Rovers squad’s Ibrox efforts.
The Kirkcaldy outfit travelled to Glasgow without seven first-team regulars and had to throw 18-year-old defender Adam Masson in for just his second start.
It proved to be a task too far although Murray had nothing but praise for his players.
He said: “We’re disappointed to be out of the Scottish Cup. We wanted to go further in the competition obviously.
“But my emotion right now is pride in the players. They were excellent.
“The discipline and the shape and structure they carried out was great.
“I also have pride in the supporters we brought today and the appreciation they showed us towards the end.
“It’s been a tough season, we had to rebuild a little bit.
“We all know what happened last season at Raith Rovers and we’re trying to restructure the
football club. We bring in a young boy in Adam Masson at right-back who was at school this time last year.
“Then we put on Greig Young, who was on loan for the first half of the season up at Elgin City.
“I commend them both for how they applied themselves.
“It’s very daunting to come here and play in front or 45 or 50,000 while trying to stick to the basics and not get nervous.
“But to a man our players gave everything.”
Murray’s men were set up to frustrate Rangers but did give the Ibrox crowd a few scares with chances they created.
The Rovers boss added: “We would like to have been up the park more.
“We knew opportunities were going to be few and far between and we did show decent quality football at times.
“But I said to the players that this wouldn’t be a game which would define our season.
“It gives us a grounding for the final quarter of the season.”