Barr determined to repay Raith with Championship safety

Craig Barr is mobbed by his team mates after scoring the opening goal against Morton - credit- Fife Photo Agency

Since joining Raith in the summer of 2014, the 30-year-old defender has picked up serious injuries during all three pre-seasons which have prevented him from starting his campaign until February.

Barr has shown remarkable character to battle back on each occasion and become a key player, and he hopes that his performance and goal against Morton on Saturday will go a long way towards helping the club avoid relegation.

He said: “I owe the club a lot and if small things like Saturday can help on a larger scale, for me, that’s the way to repay them. For the next three games I’ll keep trying to do that.

“I’m always grateful for how the club has stuck by me, and I, along with everyone, need to start repaying that faith.

“We’re well looked after – it’s a great club with great training facilities so we can’t complain. We’ve no excuses. We need to turn this round.

“Saturday was a massive win, and hopefully we can kick on from it.”

As well as doing his bit for the club, Barr admits that personal pride is also at stake in the battle to keep the club in the Championship.

“You don’t want to have relegation on your CV or have that stigma to be attached to you,” he said.

“You’re doing it for your own benefit, for the sake of the team, for contracts. We just need to get the heads down, roll the sleeves up and get out of this mess.

“Confidence can be low at times when you’re in this situation, but it doesn’t meant we don’t care.

“Having the fans there on Saturday, we could hear them getting behind us, and it was massive.

“We could really do with them for the next three games. We’ll be going out and putting our bodies on the line, and doing what we can to make sure we can turn this round.”

Barr’s goal on Saturday was typical of the determination on display as he barged his way through a crowd of bodies to head home Chris Johnston’s corner kick.

“It was a big performance and a big win,” he said.

“The most important thing is we carry on from it and we don’t rest.

“I was happy to chip in. It was a great delivery from Chris and I was in the right place at the right time and thankfully it contributed towards a win.

“The second goal was massive - you’re on edge at 1-0 especially in the circumstances we’re in, but it was a good performance all round.”