Raith Rovers boss Grant Murray has challenged his side to kick-start their ailing promotion push with a victory over managerless Alloa in Kirkcaldy.
The Fife club have faltered slightly in recent weeks and are without a win in five league fixtures now, with last weekend’s 1-0 loss at Queen of the South enough to see them slip out of the promotion play-off spots.
Despite that though, Murray is convinced his Rovers team are not only capable of halting the slide but also getting themselves back into contention near the top of the table over the coming weeks.
“It’s now about getting back to what it took to get those wins and getting those wins on the board,” he said.
“We want to do that as quickly as possible.
“We were fortunate that we went on such a good run at the start of the season, and now we’ve had a couple of defeats quite close together, a draw and another defeat, and it gets looked upon as a bad run.
“Other teams have not had the good run and had those defeats all spread out. So it’s up to us to get back to that winning way.
“We know what it takes because we’ve done it it’s not as if we’ve not done it this season.
“It’s like any other team. You are beaten and you are disappointed and it’s like that at any level but there’s no confidence slipping whatsoever.
“We’ve got a good squad, a good bunch of guys and a good dressing room, and you can see the unity we’ve had in games.
“We’ve gone down to 10 men against Hamilton and we’ve gone up to Dundee in the cup and there’s not been a lot in games like that, so we’ve got that unity you need.”
Alloa visit Stark’s Park minus manager Paul Hartley following his resignation last weekend, and it remains to be seen how they react to their 5-1 loss at home to Dumbarton seven days ago.
However, a win for the Wasps would see them leapfrog Rovers in the table and could remarkably send today’s hosts down to eighth spot themselves, such is the close nature of the Championship this term.
If Rovers are to get back to winning ways, Murray admits they will need to address their sudden shortage of goals, having failed to score in the last four games.
“We were scoring freely earlier in the season and in recent weeks we’ve found it hard to find the net,” the Raith boss said.
“But as I’ve stated before, it would be harder to take if we weren’t creating any chances whatsoever.
“Watching the video of the Queen of the South game, on another day Ross Callachan’s shot flies in, Grant Anderson has a great chance.
“It was a great move and a great ball, and Grant can’t do any more, albeit if he goes down we maybe get a penalty.
“These are things that maybe go for you when you are on the good run and don’t go for you when you need a wee spark.
“But I’m confident enough in the group of players we’ve got that we’ll score goals.”
Keeper David McGurn and defender Paul Watson remain sidelined through injury, while midfielder Kevin Moon will also be missing through suspension after reaching the required number of disciplinary points.
However, Murray believes the players will respond from their defeat at Palmerston in the right way.