Ian Murray has hailed Kevin Dabrowski’s ‘big presence’ for Raith Rovers – and right across the Championship – following another top display.
The Polish number one pulled off a string of crucial saves in Tuesday night’s 2-1 victory over Partick Thistle in the Premiership play-off semi-final.
The first-leg win gives Raith the upper hand for Friday night’s rematch at Stark’s Park.
Dabrowski made vital first-half stops from Aidan Fitzpatrick and Scott Robinson, and after the break from Aaron Muirhead, Brian Graham and twice from goal-scorer Blair Alston.
Murray admits the former Hibernian goalkeeper has been key to Rovers’ success so far this season.
“Kevin made some big saves,” said Murray before qualifying that statement. “They were probably ones I expected him to make, to be honest.
“But you still have to make them.
“We’ve seen it before, they can go in.
“Probably one of the poorer efforts at goal went in, it was just hit into the ground and it goes in the back of the net.
Kevin Dabrowski ‘hard to beat’
“In the first-half, he made a really good low block in the centre of his goal. But they’re tough and it looked like the ball had moved a little bit.
“He’ll be disappointed, like the defence are, not to keep a clean sheet.
“But certainly Kevin is becoming a really big presence in our team.
“And he’s becoming a big presence in the league, because teams are finding it hard to beat him.”
Raith looked like a team eager for the action after being forced to wait 11 days since bringing down the curtain on the Championship against Arbroath on May 3.
By contrast, at times, their energy-sapping quarter-final victory over Airdrie appeared to have taken its toll on Partick.
Putting that aside, Murray praised his side’s hunger for the battle at Firhill.
“I don’t know is the real answer,” responded Murray when asked about the benefits of his team’s lay-off.
“You can look at it in terms of the rest, or is it the appetite to the game? Or were we just sharper than them?
“I felt we started the game with more energy than Partick Thistle.
‘Very, very hungry’
“In the second-half, I felt they had energy and put a lot into it, and brought on fresh legs. You could see that.
“So, it’s a really tough one to gauge.
“But I felt we looked like a team that was very, very hungry to try to win the ball back when we didn’t have it.
“And we looked like a team that was hungry to get forward as quickly as we could on the counter-attack.
“So, full credit to the players.”
