Raith Rovers boss Grant Murray admits the availability of Craig Barr will feel like a new signing after the defender returned to action after a long injury lay-off.
The centre half made the switch to Stark’s Park early in the summer but a knee injury in pre-season and subsequent surgery means he has yet to play a first team competitive game in Rovers’ colours.
Despite that though, the 27-year-old former Livingston man has recovered well and came through Tuesday’s reserve fixture at home to Stirling Albion his first game for several months – unscathed.
Murray admits more game time will be needed before Barr can push for a starting slot, but the Rovers boss is delighted to see his options bolstered.
“It is great for Craig to get back because obviously it’s been frustrating for him,” he commented.
“Having to go under the knife and have operations done isn’t nice but sometimes it’s part and parcel of football.
“He’s back training with the first team and it was good for him to get back into the routine of getting ready for a game, so we gave him 65/70 minutes on Tuesday and he came through it fine.
“I’ve never been out for that length of time I had a clean out in my knee and stuff like that but it was nothing like what Craig had.
“But I’ve played with players who have been out for long periods of time and it is frustrating for them.
“When we had several players all out at the same time earlier in the season it was a big loss.
“It’s always going to be a big loss when you have players of any calibre missing from your squad, but we’ve gradually got them back one by one and Craig is the next one that hopefully we’ll get back.
“Once we get Kevin Cuthbert back (from his shoulder injury), that’s everyone.
“He’s been doing light training and he’s getting there, but the nature of the injuries have to be dealt with properly.
“There’s no point in rushing people back and Saturday will be too early for Craig because he’s not had 90 minutes yet, but we’re getting close to having everyone back which is good.
“Obviously you pick up wee knocks and niggles throughout the season and hopefully we won’t have too much major.”
Rovers head into tomorrow’s home game against Livingston on the back of a 2-0 Scottish Cup success against Stirling Albion.
Their reward for that win, as it turned out, is a trip to face Rangers in the fifth round in February, although Murray is very much putting that tie on the back burner to concentrate on Championship action.
“It’s a great game to look forward to but that’s what it is just now one to look forward to,” he added.
“We’ve got a lot of important league games coming up before that.
“We’re obviously delighted we were in the hat after a great result through in Stirling, and we always said when you looked at the draw there were a number of big clubs who were going to be out so the biggest thing was being in the hat come Monday.
“We’re hoping we can build up a wee bit of momentum and consistency going into it, but there are plenty of games to come before then.”