League leaders deserve respect - but we want the three points

It’s been a decent week for Young’s Fifers, an Irn-Bru Cup tie win over Cowdenbeath followed up by their first league point at Stark’s Park on Saturday.

The Fifers were unlucky not to take all three points at the home of their fierce rivals, but Young reckons they can grab their first win of the new campaign when Arbroath arrive at Bayview on Saturday.

He said: “If we can kick on from Saturday then we can win the game.

“Arbroath have some good, creative players, have a good squad and are at the top of the table, so we’ll show them respect.

“Come the end of the season I think they’ll be up in the top three or four, but the game on Saturday gives our players another chance to go out there, prove themselves and take the game to Arbroath.”

The manager’s only complaint following the weekend was that his side didn’t leave Stark’s Park with all three points after putting in such a fine, attacking performance.

But the point they did leave with, Young said, was reward for his players’ attacking mentality.

“The boys did really well,” he said.

“We went with two up top because in midfield they had Nathan Flanagan, who we knew from having played with us last season, and felt Grant Gillespie and Nat Wedderburn would sit deep, so only really had Kevin Nisbet to worry about.

“There was a chance for us to go out and cause them problems, which we did.”

Anton Dowds and Jonny Court were deployed as a two man strike force, and the move certainly paid off.

Young added: “The two of them were a handful for Raith all day.

“Jonny has been asked to prove himself and has done that over the past two games.

“He played a massive part on Saturday as did Anton.”

Mark Docherty, Scott Linton and Craig McDowall have all returned to training for the Fifers.