Now that Raith Rovers know the identity of their opponents in the Premiership play-off semi-finals, the excitement is growing ahead of Tuesday’s first-leg.
Given they had failed to beat Airdrie this season – and lost four out of their five meetings – many supporters were happy to see Partick Thistle progress from the quarters.
Manager Ian Murray, though, has always said he had no preference, given the play-offs’ habit of upsetting the form book in dramatic fashion.
But, going into the tie, Rovers can certainly cling to plenty of positives that can boost confidence they can progress to the final against either St Johnstone or Ross County.
Courier Sport has had a look at a few of the reasons to believe.
Big-game success
For Raith this season, there were no bigger matches than the ones against Fife foes Dunfermline and title rivals Dundee United.
In both, they held the upper hand.
In fact, their record against Dunfermline made history.
Their run of five straight victories – four in the league and one in the Scottish Cup – is the club’s best-ever in the fixture.
Against United, the Stark’s Park men managed two victories and a draw, as well as a defeat.
Granted, the loss – by 2-0 on March 30 – came at the worst possible time and handed the Tangerines the impetus they needed to clinch the Championship.
But the pressure was also well and truly on in the previous meeting in February, when defeat would have stretched United’s advantage at the top of the league to seven points.
Rovers’ 2-1 win in that encounter – sealed by Scott Brown’s incredible late strike – arrested a five-game losing streak and showcased a determination and intensity when the chips were down.
They have shown they can rise to the occasion – and will be hopeful of doing that four more times.
Goal-scorers
Partick have the division’s top goal-scorer in Brian Graham, their hero from the quarter-final against Airdrie.
The experienced former Rovers marksman displayed an unerring striker’s instinct to notch his 25th and 26 goals of an incredible campaign.
Thistle have also out-scored Raith across the regular Championship season, netting 63 times to Rovers’ 58 .
But that means Graham has bagged 41% of the Jags’ goals this term.
Behind him, Aidan Fitzpatrick has 11 in all competitions, Tony Adeloye with eight and Steven Lawless with five are both injured, and Scott Robinson, Kerr McInroy and Harry Milne all have five.
Raith may have netted fewer times in the league, but they have spread their goals more widely across their front line.
Lewis Vaughan is the top scorer so far with 18, but both Jack Hamilton and Dylan Easton have 12, Callum Smith has nine and Sam Stanton from midfield has seven.
On-loan Dundee striker Zak Rudden may only have managed three goals for Raith, but they have come from just eight league starts.
With Josh Mullin and Aidan Connolly also chipping in with seven goals between them, manager Murray knows he has a spread of players who can dig out goals when they need them.
Clean sheets
It was not something Raith could have hung their hat on earlier in the season.
But their defensive record will surely give them heart for the play-offs.
They only managed four shut-outs in the opening seven months of the campaign.
With a few tactical tweaks in the wake of five straight defeats, however, Rovers have racked up eight in their last 12 games.
The blank against Arbroath in the final Championship game was a fourth clean sheet in a row for the Kirkcaldy outfit.
With Dylan Corr looking unlikely to be available due to a dislocated shoulder, Murray will be hopeful Keith Watson is fit to face Thistle.
But, even if not, Scott Brown has performed admirably as a centre-half when needed and Euan Murray has been ever present in all 12 of the shut-outs.
Behind the rearguard, Kevin Dabrowski has proven himself one of the top shot-stoppers in Scottish football with some remarkable saves.
Raith appear to have found a defensive solidity at just the right time for the play-offs.
Record against Partick Thistle
The play-offs should be treated as a special case, such is the peculiarity of the two-legged affairs compared to regular league encounters.
But Partick have enjoyed a better record against Airdrie than vice versa – and prevailed in the quarter-finals.
So, maybe Raith should take confidence from their recent run against Thistle.
Over the course of their previous four meetings this term, Rovers are undefeated, with two wins and two draws.
They also have victories both at home and away against the Jags, the most recent at Firhill coming just eight weeks ago.
The Stark’s Park men also enjoyed a 14-point advantage over their Maryhill rivals in the Championship table.
They can take belief into the semi-final that they have been the division’s second-best team this season.
Putting their feet up
Whilst Partick were battling out an extremely tight affair with Airdrie, Rovers were watching on from the comfort of their armchairs.
It took a wonderful defensive effort from Thistle to get past Airdrie, who had 67 per cent possession in Friday’s second-leg.
On a warm night in Glasgow, that will have taken it out of the Jags.
Meanwhile, Raith have been able to relax and reset, and have had time for players to recover from minor injuries.
Partick will have the benefit of being up to speed and, on the back of last year’s experiences, already know what the play-offs are all about.
But Rovers will undoubtedly be fresher and will be hoping to use that to their advantage over the course of two intense games in just three days.
