Ian Murray on the progress Raith Rovers have made since their opening-day defeat to Cove Rangers

Ian Murray has seen “big improvements” to his Raith Rovers side since their opening-day league defeat to Saturday’s opponents.

Rovers take on Cove Rangers this weekend as they kick off their bid to defend their SPFL Trust Trophy.

Murray has inherited the leftovers of the squad from that cup success under John McGlynn.

Raith got off to a less-than-ideal start in the Premier Sports Cup and their league form has been erratic: LLWWLLW.

The 2-0 defeat at the Balmoral Stadium came as the Rovers manager was still in the early stages of building his squad.

Kyle Connell and Ryan Nolan signed for the club in the days leading up to the match before being thrown in for their debut.

Making better decisions

Murray has seen vast improvements to his team since then.

“We’re much better going forward, we’re much more fluid going forward,” he said.

“We’re making better decisions all the time. Even in training you’re starting to find out more about the players.

“We’re seven or eight weeks down the line from [the Cove] game now and the players are progressing a lot.

YESTERDAY'S GOALS (1/3) | 🎥 @KyleConnell9 scored his first goal for the Rovers with a lovely turn and finish to put us 1-0 up.

Full highlights can be viewed on the @RaithTV YouTube channel 👇https://t.co/ZbzgRtIOEm#IMaRover pic.twitter.com/Ee3ZpdvkFO

— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) September 18, 2022

“We now know our strengths. We’ve now got two centre-halves which are playing together all the time.

“We’ve got a settle back four and goalkeeper.”

Club captain Ross Matthews is in line to make his return to the squad but Sam Stanton is likely to miss out to recover from a knock.

An injury to Jamie Gullan versus Inverness will see him again miss out.

It will be another chance for Connell to continue up front after focused coaching led to a game-winning performance versus Ayr United.

“We’ve had to chop and change strikers a wee bit with injury but our team is getting quite settled,” added Murray.

“We will make changes for Saturday to give guys a rest and get other guys some game-time – but in the main we’ve found a settled team.

“The quicker you find a settled team, the better for the players – the better for everybody.

“You can see relationships getting built.

“It’s not just about new players coming in but it’s about existing players adapting to the way we want to play as well.

“To do that we have to adapt around each other. But I’m seeing big improvements.”