Ian Murray believes his summer Raith Rovers transfers are complementing an already solid squad at Stark’s Park.
Murray’s men travelled to Bayview on Saturday afternoon to face East Fife and started the match with a relatively familiar looking 11 to that which played last season, with Callum Fordyce the only summer signing on from the beginning.
But after the interval, recent signings Kieran Freeman, Lewis Stevenson, Paul Hanlon, Lewis Gibson and Shaun Byrne, who spent the final part of last season on loan at the club, were all introduced.
Raith boss Murray is confident his transfer business has been successful to top up a squad which almost won promotion to the Premiership in 2023/2024.
Murray said: “This was only our sixth day back and it always takes a bit of time but I thought we saw some really good performances from not just the new players but the players who were already here who are showing they want to stay in the team.
“There was a tenacity and aggression when trying to get the ball back but we need to brush up a wee bit in the final third.
“That’ll come; it’s always the hardest part.
“We’ve tried to recruit in positions we felt we needed a bit more competition to give a little better quality at times.
“I think we’ve done that with our signings, all of them will add value to our squad.
“But the boys who were here last season have to push them and install the values and demands we place on our players.
“I think we’ve built a really decent squad so far.”
East Fife 0-0 Raith Rovers
East Fife, who had beaten Dunfermline 2-0 in their opening friendly just a few hours before on Friday evening, started the majority of players who had also began that match.
The two Kingdom sides were not only getting their pre-season regime into full swing but were meeting to mark Methil midfielder Pat Slattery’s testimonial.
Slattery, part of the 2015/16 League Two winning side, has made over 250 appearances in the black and gold and is entering his tenth season with the club.
The hosts thought they had opened the scoring when Nathan Austin scampered clear on the Raith goal and slid his finish beyond Kevin Dabrowski only to see his celebrations cut short by the offside flag.
Josh Mullin pulled a decent save out of Liam McFarlane in the Fife goal with the best of what Raith offered in the opening 30 minutes.
East Fife had a second goal chopped off when Alan Trouten turned home a Jack Healy corner kick but his effort was disallowed for a foul.
The home side were having the best of what little was created with a trialist forward pulling an excellent late save out of Dabrowski before the game petered out with both sets of players content with a solid and competitive workout.
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