Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Raith Rovers’ new signings analysed: Dylan Easton, Scott Brown, Ross Millen, Ryan Nolan and Kyle Connell

From left: Ross Millen, Scott Brown and Dylan Easton. Images: SNS.
From left: Ross Millen, Scott Brown and Dylan Easton. Images: SNS.

The Raith Rovers squad is in a much better place than it was a few short weeks ago.

More players have been added while some long-term absentees are starting to make their mark.

The recent defeat to Queen’s Park continued a trend of up-and-down form and included seven new summer signings in the starting XI.

Here, Courier Sport assesses the first five of Ian Murray’s new recruits and how they have fared so far.

Dylan Easton

The definition of mercurial. He looks unstoppable in some matches – see the 6-0 win over Peterhead – and is marked out of others.

He has picked up a few knocks in recent weeks – probably due to being one of the most fouled players in the league – but is a “quick healer”, according to his manager.

Dylan Easton is the joint-second most fouled player in the Scottish Championship. Source: Wyscout.

He can be a match-winner and has the quality to make something happen when he isn’t at it – though this hasn’t happened as much as he would have liked.

Scott Brown

The box-to-box midfielder was played out of position for the Premier Sports Cup and the start of the league campaign.

He performed well before returning to his natural role and was rewarded with the honour of being named team captain.

He and Sam Stanton have since made the midfield spots their own – both scoring in the win over Ayr United – though they now face competition from Brad Spencer and Ross Matthews.

Scott Brown and Sam Stanton have linked well together in midfield.

Brown and Stanton’s partnership has blossomed in recent weeks and Murray has said the positions are theirs to lose.

Ross Millen

Millen was lambasted by fans – and drew criticism from his manager – after giving away a penalty versus Inverness.

Murray went on to explain that the set-up of his side further up the park is what had caused the issue in the first place.

The full-back has had his issues but Murray tweaked the formation after that match, adding an extra holding midfielder.

The side has responded with two wins from three matches, with Millen making a crucial block versus Cove Rangers with the score at 1-0.

Ryan Nolan

The most leftfield signing of the lot, the former Inter Milan youth and Getafe defender hadn’t played much for the best part of two years due to injury.

Ryan Nolan with his Inter Milan youth teammates.

He has been paired with teenager – and fellow new recruit – Connor O’Riordan and the pair are blossoming into a good partnership.

At 23 years old, Nolan is expected to be the experienced head in central defence.

Nolan took a few weeks to get up to speed but has shown the required aggression for the Championship and is comfortable at bringing the ball out from the back.

Kyle Connell

The young striker got off the mark in the victory over Ayr United and played a huge part in the winning goal.

He – along with Nolan – was thrown in for his debut, within a couple of days of signing for the club, in the defeat to Cove Rangers.

He has partnered Jamie Gullan at times but became the focal point of the attack after Gullan’s groin injury.

The tweak in formation has left Connell with a bit less support at times but he has missed good opportunities in the two matches since opened his account for Rovers.

  • Later in the week, part two will look at Raith Rovers’ other new summer signings – including Connor O’Riordan, Connor McBride and Kieran Ngwenya.

Conversation