Coming off the bench for your debut to replace an injured teammate half an hour into the first half isn’t ideal.
Especially when the forward you are replacing is showing some form which he revealed was mainly down to a run of matches over preseason.
Jamie Gullan hurt his groin when almost curling in the opener in Saturday’s defeat to Inverness.
That meant a first appearance for Connor McBride after he signed for the club the day before.
We are delighted to welcome 21-year-old Connor McBride to Raith Rovers on a season-long deal‼️@connormcbride0 joins our attacking forces and is hoping to make an instant impact 💥
More info here⤵️https://t.co/op4AnKnzxf#ImARover pic.twitter.com/4mVx3rMKpD
— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) September 2, 2022
Blackburn
The forward signed a two-year deal with Blackburn in September 2020 and was released ahead of last week’s transfer deadline.
He scored 12 goals and provided six assists in his debut season for the under-23s – part of the side that finished fourth in Premier League 2 won by Manchester City.
⚽️ Five #PL2 goals now for @connormcbride0 this season! 🔥#Rovers 🔵⚪️ https://t.co/BIFckRNEcj pic.twitter.com/VvRleqeQ1F
— Blackburn Rovers (@Rovers) October 19, 2020
That earned him a place at the first-team preseason training camp, where he scored the winner in the opening friendly versus AFC Fylde.
Later he was an unused substitute for matches against Swansea and Hull.
Scottish beginnings and return
Before that McBride was on loan at Stenhousemuir – where he valued playing “men’s football” at 18 years old – while he was a youth at Celtic.
The Glasgow club picked him up from Falkirk’s under-17s in 2018 and before that he had spells as a youth at the Forth Valley Football Academy and Stenhousemuir.
He played 15 times for Queen’s Park during a loan spell last season but failed to get a proper run of matches, making 10 of those appearances from the bench.
Type of player
Blackburn under-23s used McBride predominantly as a central attacker, be it the focal point or off the front.
After signing on loan at Queen’s, he told QPTV: “I like to get on the ball in pockets of space and drive at defenders – get goals and set goals up. I’m quite creative as well.”
McBride didn’t get a consistent run of starts while there and was used in a variety of attacking positions, mostly on the left.
When he did start, the results were good – draws versus Falirk, East Fife and Cove and wins over Clyde and East Fife.
Around a month and a half after joining he came on with little over 10 minutes to go versus Alloa, his side 1-0 down.
For the injury-time equaliser he started the move with an interception before playing a one-two with the goalscorer.
Even if it took a world-class finish from Ronan Darcy to beat the keeper.
Connor McBride’s assist versus Alloa:
He followed up that a few weeks later by setting up the winner at home to Clyde with a less aesthetically pleasing assist.
McBride’s assist versus Clyde:
Raith debut
McBride was the man Murray turned to when Gullan was no longer able to continue on Saturday.
While he could have done better with the two chances he had – and may have had he had more match sharpness – the forward showed some promising touches.
McBride’s back-post chance:
The 21-year-old showed a willingness to get in behind the Caley defence but would also drop deep to link.
He is comfortable with the ball at his feet, rarely giving it away, and has great acceleration, with and without the ball.
Debuts which aren’t ideal have been a bit of a theme at Stark’s Park this season but it didn’t take long for Kevin Nolan and Connor O’Riordan to form a partnership.
McBride will be hoping to settle just as quickly.
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