No pressure but Murray wants Rovers to seize the moment
Raith Rovers manager Ian Murray feels excitement rather than pressure as his side prepare to face Ross County for a place in the cinch Premiership.
The Fife side beat Partick Thistle on penalties on Friday to put themselves 180 minutes away from ending a 27-year exile from Scotland's top flight.
County go into tomorrow's first leg at Stark's Park on the back of a contrasting experience, after discovering
St Johnstone had got the win they needed at Motherwell to jump into tenth after ten-man Aberdeen held on for a 2-2 draw in Dingwall.
While County battle the pressure of avoiding the drop, Rovers are looking to seize an opportunity.
“It's an exciting time,” Murray said. “There is pressure to get into the Premiership because you want to be there, but pressure has never come from anyone. The fans have certainly never put myself or the players under pressure and the board of directors certainly haven't either.
“We are ahead of where we thought we would be but that doesn't mean we can't do it. Footballers will always back themselves, I will always back myself and my team.
“We are two games away from the Premiership, which would be the most amazing achievement. You don't get these sort of things very often in life and we want to try and do it.”
VAR will be in play in both legs and Raith received a briefing from Scottish Football Association head of referees Crawford Allan yesterday.
“We had a good meeting there with Crawford, I am really appreciative that he came in to help us understand it a wee bit more,” Murray said.
“It was really educational for us, it's not as clear cut as I presumed. We got a good chat with Crawford for 45 minutes but I hope the tie isn't decided on a VAR moment.
“We are not used to that being the case in our league. We are used to bad decisions at times and that's all right. But it's there, and who knows, it might work in our favour.
“We are not going into it again, we had our chat and there's not a lot I can do. The boys are going to go out and play as we do, I don't want them to hold back.”