Gutted Raith Rovers skipper Scott Brown is aiming high next season

Brown, 29, was one of Raith’s better performers during Sunday’s 4-0 second leg defeat to the Staggies in Dingwall, in a game which saw the visitors knock the ball about well at times but ultimately succumb to a side with greater strength, physicality and finishing power.

“It’s obviously disappointing right now but I actually thought we showed our true selves and played a lot better than we did on the Thursday night,” Brown said.

"Although we got beaten 4-0 I don’t think that was a 4-0 game. I think you wouldn’t have been able to tell who was the SPL team.

"Last Thursday night you could, because I thought Ross County were a lot better than us so 2-1 was a positive for us.

"We had a lot of the ball first half, played the ball on the ground a lot better than what we did the other night.

"I’m proud that the boys stood up, showed a bit of bottle and showed how good they can be.

"When we look at the season as a whole, it’s fine but it’s also disappointing that we’ve fallen at the final hurdle.

"Looking at Ross County last Thursday night and on Sunday, I don’t think they are the second worst team in the SPL, having watched a good few SPL games, but they are in that position for a reason.

"Fair play to them, they showed their class and they deserve to win over the two legs.

"It’s obviously going to be disappointing for us throughout the summer, but I think in a couple of weeks when the dust settles we’ll look back on this season with pride.

"It will be a case of coming back in after the summer and going again.

"We’ve shown how good we can be in the Championship (second-placed Raith finished runners-up to champions Dundee United this season).

"We need to make sure that we’re not in the play-offs next season, hopefully we can win the league.”

Brown, who joined Raith in the summer of 2022 after leaving Peterhead, is contracted to the club until summer 2025.

He added: “I’ve loved my time here and I’ll continue to do my best for however long I’m here.

"If it’s next season it’s next season.

"I will get ready over the summer, come back and give my all again.

"The Raith fans have been amazing with us all season.

"To see them up in Dingwall in their numbers, it was disappointing we couldn’t give them anything to shout about.

"We had loads of chances when we went 2-0 down and we could have easily got back in the game somehow.

"But Ross County were a lot more clinical than us and I think that’s the difference at the top level. When you get chances you need to take them but we’ll learn from that and come back stronger.”