Raith Rovers may have had their Scottish Cup dreams dashed earlier this week but Rory McKeown insists the Stark’s Park men must treat today’s Championship clash with Queen of the South as the cup final they have been denied.
Having been knocked out of the cup, the Kirkcaldy club will, as the old adage states, be able to concentrate fully on their league campaign.
Sitting eight points adrift of this afternoon’s opponents, who sit in fourth, and seven behind fifth-placed Falkirk, Rovers still harbour hopes they can make a late push for a promotion play-off spot in the remaining 11 matches of the season.
However, if they are to have any chance of ensuring they are battling it out with Falkirk and Queen of the South, if not Rangers and Hibernian, who are expected to seal second and third, McKeown believes Grant Murray’s team must target wins in the coming weeks.
He said: “If we beat Queen of the South on Saturday and then win our other game in hand then they’ll be looking over their shoulder as we come into it.
“Falkirk are a point behind Queens, so it is within reach but it is a bit of an ask.
“So, we’ve got to just go out and, although the cliche bores the life out of me, play every game like a cup final.
“We have to pick up points. Points are the goal at the minute.
Performances? Yes, but we need to pick up points, it’s as simple as that.
“We had a good start to the season and then in the second part we weren’t great.
“When we were losing games we were losing heavily, so it will be disappointing if goal difference comes into play.
“Draws are no good to us at this stage in the season, it’s all or nothing.”
He added: “Queens are going well, they’re a good team.
“They were unlucky in the cup as well against Falkirk and they’ve been on a good run.
“But we’ve been on a good run ourselves until the Rangers game and then Inverness, so we can’t go in too down-hearted.
“We’ve played against Rangers, who are a good team, and Inverness, who are where they are for a good reason.
“So, we’ll still go in with confidence.”