Keith Watson insists Raith Rovers are doing – and will continue to do – all they can to get to the bottom of their current slump.
Friday night’s 1-0 reverse to Airdrie in the SPFL Trust Trophy semi-final was their fifth defeat in a row.
Having suffered just one loss in the league all season until the current sequence kicked off last month, it is a worrying spell for the Stark’s Park men.
From a five-point lead at the top of the Championship, they now find themselves four points behind league leaders Dundee United.
With just under a fortnight now until their next outing – in a massive encounters with the Tangerines – Rovers now have time for a reset.
And Watson has revealed the players themselves have held discussions to try to resolve a perplexing downturn that leaves them with just one win from their last eight outings.
After making his comeback from a knee injury, the 34-year-old said: “We’ve been speaking about that in the changing room. We’re trying to get to the bottom of what’s gone on.
“We started the season so strongly and in the league we’re still in a great position.
‘We need to get ready’
“For whatever the reason is, this run we’re on, we’re working hard to try to get out of that.
“We went into Friday night’s game confident we could turn that around, and we didn’t do that.
“We’ve got two weeks now to get onto the training pitch and have a look at what we’re doing, analyse games and just see what we’re doing wrong.
“We need to get ready because it’s going to be a massive game in two weeks’ time.
“We’ve got two weeks to prepare and it would be a great way to get back to winning ways.”
Watson has been forced to watch on from the sidelines since September after sustaining a knee injury that required surgery.
After over four months out of action, he understandably faded as time went on against Airdrie. But he still brought some badly needed defensive experience to the Raith rearguard.
He added: “I felt fine. Obviously, I was a bit tired towards the end. It’s my first 90 since back in September.
“So, looking at that, it’s a positive.
“But we were hoping as a group to be in the final and it wasn’t to be.
Poor
“But I’m just really disappointed to go out at the semi-final stage. I don’t really think we got going at all.
“We were poor and never created enough. We were kind of all over the place at times, which just isn’t good enough.”
Raith find themselves in an on-going rut but know that a win on their next outing hauls them right back into the title race with United.
Watson continued: “Absolutely there is still the belief within the squad.
“You just need to look at the players and the characters we’ve got in the changing room and in the coaching staff.
“We’ve got to top in the league and second in the league from this group, and we know we can do it, because we’ve been on a great run before.
“Yes, it’s disappointing, this little run we’re on at the minute. It’s not good enough.
“But the only ones who can get ourselves out of it are us.
“We need to stick together and make sure everybody’s at it and hungry.
“There’s 14 league games left and we want to push as much as we can.”
