Scott Brown insists there is still plenty motivation in Raith Rovers ranks to get results

Scott Brown is expecting another difficult afternoon when his side takes on Ayr United this weekend.

The Raith Rovers team captain was encouraged by the performance in Saturday’s defeat to Morton.

Alex King gave the home side a lead two minutes in but despite controlling most of the game, Ian Murray’s men couldn’t find an equaliser.

Late red cards for Tom Lang and Lewis Vaughan means two more players ruled out for their next game before the final whistle had blown to end Saturday’s.

“We showed there is plenty motivation in that dressing room to get results,” said Brown.

“We need to do it for ourselves, we need to do it for everyone at the club.

“We’ve got two games to try and win.

Difficult pitch

“We’ll be down to Ayr next week – probably short on numbers again, but we’ll be back out there.

“I thought we played well. We came down here on a difficult pitch and dominated the ball – we passed it well after the first 15 minutes.

“We can’t afford to start the way we started, but after that we have relative control of the game.

“I don’t think we got outplayed in any way.

“With the small numbers we’ve got though, the boys did great.

“To lose the early goal was a big blow to us, but there’s a lot to be positive about.

“It’s hard, we’re not far away from the end of the season and it’s pretty tough just now.

“It’s just one of those things, you just need to roll your sleeves up and go week in, week out.

“The boys in there are probably feeling that a bit, but it’s just one of those things.”

Difficult referee

Like many involved in the game, Brown was surprised it ended with as many cautions from the referee as it did.

Dan McFarlane gave Lang a second yellow for persistent fouling and Vaughan picked up his second booking for dissent.

A fairly tame affair somehow ended with one side down to nine men.

“He seems like a relatively new ref at this level, I’ve never seen him before,” said Brown. “It didn’t feel like a dirty game.

“It’s getting towards the end of the season and it seems like we’re getting new referees at times.”