The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Matthews dreams of leading Rovers into Premiership
Ross Matthews believes a stint in the Premiership would be ample compensation for a couple of injury-ravaged seasons.
Despite missing large chunks of the last two campaigns, Matthews was able to captain Raith Rovers during Saturday’s hard-fought draw at Cappielow.
Reflecting on the game, Matthews said: “It probably wasn’t the prettiest or most entertaining game to watch.
“We thought we could have done a lot of things better, but we can also take positives – we kept a clean sheet, limited their chances but ultimately didn’t create enough chances of our own.
“Both teams didn’t have anything really left to play for so we have to just take the positives and focus on the play-offs.”
Raith had to adapt their squad which saw the likes of Lewis Vaughan, James Brown, Scott Brown and Josh Mullin being dropped to the bench.
However, despite the shake-up of the starting 11, Raith still held their own.
Matthews said: “We need to get everyone up to scratch with their match fitness.
“As it is the end of the season a lot of the guys have some niggles hence the few changes that were made.
“Today was only my second time playing as a right back – my first time was against Queen’s Park at Hampden which was, funnily enough, 0-0 as well so maybe I kill games when I play right-back.
“We’re happy with two clean sheets but it is a new position for me and I’ve still got a lot to learn.
“I’ll be watching things back with the analysts because I know there’s definitely things I can improve on.”
Despite the injury woes, Matthews was in good spirits when discussing his aims for the rest of the season, adding: “The last two years have been pretty brutal.
“This year has been slightly better as in the first six months, although I was injured, I had finally got to the bottom of my injury.
“The last six months I’ve been feeling really good – constantly getting better.
Matthews celebrates 12 years with Raith Rovers since signing for the Stark’s Park youth team though he is also at the end of his contract.
Looking ahead to his own future and Raith’s immediate quest coming up in the play-offs, he said:”Personally, I would love to stay at the club but it’s not up to me.
“There would be nothing better for me than bringing the team up and playing with them in the Premiership, but we will have to wait and see.
“I was a part of the team that was promoted from League One, but it would be so much better if we could be the team that gets into the Premiership.”