Raith Rovers eased themselves to a confident start to the new season with Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Stirling Albion.
An opening-day hat-trick from Aidan Connolly was the perfect way to kick off the Premier Sports Cup campaign ahead of Tuesday’s visit of Stranraer.
The Stark’s Park side were rarely troubled by their League Two hosts and never looked in any danger of being on the wrong end of a shock.
It will have been a reassuring performance for manager Ian Murray and his staff, and is a building block for the confidence that will be required to aim for success again in the coming months.
Courier Sport was on hand to assess Raith’s win.
Debutants deliver
Raith handed debuts to five summer signings across the 90 minutes at Forthbank.
The three starters all came in defence, where Kieran Freeman and Lewis Stevenson took their places at full-back and Callum Fordyce slotted in between them beside Euan Murray.
The revamped rearguard looked settled throughout but was only really fleetingly bothered by the experienced Stirling front pairing of Dale Carrick and Ali Roy.
At 24, Freeman is by far the youngest and, even without the injured 34-year-old Paul Hanlon, it meant a defence with an average age of 30.
That experience aided the calmness exhibited by Rovers and was clear in the organisation of the team as Fordyce, who was assistant-manager of Airdrie for the past two years, barked out instructions.
Later, two more fresh faces were handed bows as Kai Montagu and Lewis Gibson entered the fray.
Both were perhaps too eager to make an early impression but, even with the limited time they were given, indicated they can add something to the mix.
It appears that Raith have recruited intelligently following their shortcomings last term.
Combinations unlocked
With new players comes the need to gel and create an understanding.
No player works in isolation and it often takes time to build relationships.
With just three pre-season friendlies to go on, there would have been some trepidation over the new starts and any tweaks to the game-plan.
However, although it was a largely trouble-free outing, the early indications are that the squad is knitting together just fine.
The best example of that was the promise shown by Stevenson and Dylan Easton down the left flank.
Connolly’s two goals before the break both came from that side and Stevenson and Easton’s interplay was at the heart of most of Rovers’ best moments before the break.
Easton found the overlapping Stevenson to cross for Connolly’s opener and it was a pattern – or vice versa – that was repeated throughout.
The duo appeared to enjoy playing with each other and Murray will be hopeful others can find the same levels of awareness in the coming weeks.
Options available
Murray was rewarded for opting to go with Connolly from the start against Stirling.
He said after the match the winger had impressed during training in the build-up to the cup opener and his instincts were rewarded with Connolly’s display and treble.
Easton on the other flank more than justified his inclusion with a superb display that was at the heart of Raith’s best moments.
However, the appearance late on of Josh Mullin for Connolly and Gibson for Easton was a reminder of the arsenal available to Murray on the flanks.
Callum Smith was given an opportunity as a central marksman, but he gives Rovers another option out wide or in the number ten position.
The currently-injured Lewis Vaughan can also play right across the front four positions, whilst Montagu replaced Sam Stanton in the furthest-forward midfield position and Jack Hamilton came on for Smith ‘up top’.
Murray has spoken of being keen on another striker but also content if nothing suitable comes up.
It is easy to see why. He effectively has nine players to fill four positions and rotation may be the order of the day if he is going to keep everyone content.
