Ross Matthews is hoping Raith Rovers can hit the ground running when the competitive action kicks off as they bid to better last season and reach the Premiership.
The Stark’s Park outfit enjoyed a successful campaign last term, but ultimately came up short when it mattered most.
Having traded top spot with Dundee United in the Championship race, it was the Tangerines who landed the title and promotion to the top-flight.
Ian Murray’s side then reached the Premiership play-off final with a thrilling penalty-kicks victory over Partick Thistle in the semi-final.
However, they were outclassed over the two legs against Ross County in a 6-1 defeat.
Matthews admits the failure initially hit hard, before he and his team-mates consoled themselves with their achievements across a commendable campaign.
And he reckons coming so close has provided even more motivation to make the improvements necessary and ensure they are celebrating promotion next year.
“Everyone was disappointed at the end of last season,” Matthews told Courier Sport as Raith prepare for their Premier Sports Cup curtain-raiser against Stirling Albion on Saturday.
“But, once we had time to reflect, we realised that, even though we didn’t reach our ultimate goal, it was still a really good season.
‘It shows the ambition’
“You can see the club has tried to strengthen the squad and we’ve made some really good signings this summer.
“It just shows the ambition we have at the moment.
“Everyone’s goal now is to improve on last season and go one step further and get promoted.
“I think we’ve got every chance of doing that and everyone believes we can do that.
“But the league’s going to be so tight this season. All the clubs are in similar positions.
“There’s other teams who have signed well and have good squads as well. So, they’ll be saying the exact same as us.
“We just need to make sure we start the season well and get a bit of momentum going, because we saw that last year, starting the season well.
“It kind of just rolled on from there and it turned out a good season in the league.”
Matthews missed the first half of last season with an ankle injury that followed on from two foot operations.
Right-back or midfield?
After making his return in the New Year Fife derby on January 2, the 28-year-old went on to make 20 appearances and scored in the play-off victory over Partick Thistle.
Matthews, who penned a new one-year deal with Raith last month, finished the campaign playing as an auxiliary right-back. But he is hopeful of being back in his more accustomed position this term.
“I think the manager knows my preferred position is definitely midfield,” he added. “I still see myself as a midfielder – but I’m happy to play wherever I’m asked to play.
“More than anyone, I know there’s a lot I can improve on playing right-back.
“It was something new to me and if I’m going to play there in the future I definitely need to work on a few things.
“I’m more than happy to play wherever. But if I was to choose a position to play I would definitely play in midfield.
“It’s a lot more natural to me, just because I’ve played there my whole career.
“But it’s a good thing to have to be able to play a few different positions. So, it’s good that I had a wee spell there at the end of last season.”
