Neill Collins believes being awarded a testimonial at Raith Rovers tells its own story about Ross Matthews – as a player and a person.
Matthews will be honoured on Wednesday night with a game against his boyhood heroes, Hearts.
The midfielder was on the books of the Tynecastle side as a youngster before suffering the bitter disappointment of being released aged 16.
Twelve years on, the 28-year-old could make his 300th competitive appearance for Raith this season and is as reliable a presence as ever for the Rovers first-team.
“I think, first of all, consistency is the most underrated quality that anyone can have,” Collins told Courier Sport when asked about this week’s testimonial.
“Being somewhere for more than ten years tells you a lot about Ross as a person and as a player.
“It’s great that he’s getting recognised because it’s something that’s very hard to do in this day and age – to complete ten years in the first-team at a club.
“So I really hope everyone gets out and shows their appreciation.”
Collins has only worked with Matthews for the last month, but has been hugely impressed.
‘Really fortunate’
Wearing the captain’s armband in the absence of Scott Brown, Matthews proved his versatility by playing centre-half in Collins’ first game in charge, against Ayr United in the SPFL Trust Trophy.
He has since been restored to his more familiar beat at the heart of the team and has proven to Collins the reasons behind his longevity.
“I’ve been really fortunate in my time that in the first game at Ayr I played him, what you can think is, out of position,” added Collins.
“You always need players like that in your squad.
“And that’s one of the reasons players like Ross stay at clubs for all these years.
“Sometimes people look at that versatility as a negative. But I think it’s a huge positive, to have the mentality to be able to just do whatever role is asked.
“We’re very fortunate to have Ross at the club.”
With no game scheduled this weekend due to the international break, and having been knocked out of the Challenge Cup, Raith would have sought an outing to fill the void had Matthews’ testimonial not been arranged.
It will give Collins an opportunity to give more game-time to those returning from injury, such as Scott Brown and Callum Fordyce, or those, like Callum Smith and Josh Mullin, who have found themselves out of the starting line-up of late.
“I think you’ll see a strong side, in terms of looking at people who need to play minutes,” said Collins, with recent signing Fankaty Dabo also expected to feature heavily.
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