After the weekend’s promising 4-1 cup victory over East Fife, Raith Rovers manager John McGlynn will challenge his players to serve up more of the same when the league season gets under way on Saturday.
The Rovers gaffer was delighted with the way his side bounced back from recent defeats to send their close rivals out of the Co-operative Insurance Cup.
It was the players’ all-round performance as a team which particularly pleased the Raith boss.
The Stark’s Park faithful were far from happy after watching their team beaten 1-0 by Cowdenbeath in the Challenge Cup and then thumped 5-0 by Dundee United in their final pre-season friendly, but supporters would have gone home after Saturday’s game with cause for optimism.
“It was much better,” McGlynn said.
“The start was exactly what we needed and what we were looking for, and it was the start of the game that won us the game.
“We had a great tempo, great pace and we played some great football we strung some great passes together.
“It was a great first goal it was a shot that comes back off the post and Gregory (Tade) was very sharp to stick the ball in the net. And similarly it was great football for Gregory’s second.
“I felt John Baird took his goal well, and at 3-0 up I asked the players to go and do the same again. But, to be fair to East Fife, it was a great free-kick from Bobby Linn and it got them back in the game.
“David McGurn then made a great save from Robert Sloan and it could have been 3-2, but after that we played some great attacking football, opened up their defence and created some great opportunities.
“It was also good for Jamie Mole to come on and get his goal and, overall, we’ve got to be very happy with a 4-1 victory.”
Rovers open their first division campaign against Partick Thistle at Stark’s Park and Mc Glynn believes his players will go into the game with renewed confidence.
He said, “The players’ attitude was magnificent we had been hurting all week and we were very unhappy because we felt Dundee United were so good on Tuesday.
“They’ll be hard pushed to play as well as that in the SPL, but we took some positives from the game. They showed us how it should be done.”