Raith Rovers chief executive Eric Drysdale has hailed the tremendous “team effort” that has helped revive the Kirkcaldy club’s fortunes in recent weeks.
The feel-good factor around Stark’s Park reached a peak on Sunday afternoon as Rovers extended their unbeaten run to six games thanks to the 2-1 victory at Ibrox that sent Rangers crashing out of the Scottish Cup.
Confidence is therefore high ahead of back-to-back home games against Falkirk and Rangers, a trip to bottom club Livingston and a cup quarter-final up at Inverness, although the feeling is perhaps night and day to what it was prior to Christmas.
The knives appeared to be out for manager Grant Murray after a 5-1 home defeat to Livi, and Drysdale freely admitted back then that the boss had been told in no uncertain terms that performances and more importantly – results had to improve.
But the Raith board kept the faith and results have markedly improved since some changes were made and Maurice Malpas was brought in to assist as director of football.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s annual general meeting at Stark’s Park, Drysdale said he was pleased with the club’s current direction of travel and hopes Rovers can continue moving forward on and off the pitch.
“It just shows you that football is a funny old game, as somebody once said,” he told Courier Sport.
“Grant has been the constant throughout, but we brought in Maurice Malpas to offer advice as well, and we have a top physio in Karen Gibson (formerly at Dundee) who has brought in some great innovations that are helping enormously.
“So it’s absolutely a team effort from the football management team that has seen this turnaround come into being.
“It’s all about continuing that work and seeing where it takes us.
“Obviously the league as well we’ve got a home game against Queen of the South to reschedule and Falkirk coming up on Saturday, and if we win both these games we’re right back in the thick of things again.
“We just have to see what the next few weeks bring and nobody is getting carried away because there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Rovers earned plenty of plaudits from fans after Sunday’s cup win in Glasgow and Drysdale hopes the Raith faithful will support Grant Murray and his men as they try to mount a serious promotion challenge.
“There’s been a huge change in social media comments since the Scottish Cup win against Rangers, compared to what it has been in the past, and it’s really about trying to keep everybody on side,” he continued.
“We’ve got our annual general meeting coming up on Thursday and supporters will get the chance to ask the management team anything they like.
“So hopefully, gradually, bit by bit, everybody that supports Raith Rovers will get behind the team.”
Rovers managed to make an impressive profit for the last financial year, largely down to good runs in the Ramsdens and Scottish Cups last term, so the directors could probably be forgiven for having one eye on the purse strings yet again.
A place in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals means there is a decent chance of Raith’s trip to Inverness being selected for TV coverage, and Drysdale is optimistic the game at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in March might well be one of those.
Three out of the four are expected to be snapped up by the TV executives, and that decision will come in the next couple of weeks presumably after the outcome of the Berwick Rangers v Spartans replay is known.
In the meantime, Rovers can only dream of a return to Hampden and a first Scottish Cup semi-final since the 2010 last four defeat to Dundee United.
“It’s Premiership opposition so it’s always going to be a difficult tie,” Drysdale continued.
“Inverness are playing really well but we’ve got to go up there and try to continue our winning streak in cup competition.
“I think our game suits the counter attacking style away from home against better opposition.
“You look at the players we’ve got, like Grant Anderson, and it seems as if counter attacking in games like these is what we’re best at.
“We’re playing well just now generally, but I do think counter attacking is our biggest strong point.
“So we’ll go up there next month and give it our best shot.
“We’re 90 minutes away from a semi-final, so it’s a great incentive for the players to go up there and get a result.”
The board of directors and football management team will all be in attendance at tonight’s open meeting at Stark’s Park, which is due to get underway at 7.30pm.