Raith boss McGlynn relishing visit of Dick Campbell's Arbroath

Third place takes on fourth in the ripest fixture of Saturday’s Championship bunch.
A studious-looking John McGlynn (picture by Fife Photo Agency)A studious-looking John McGlynn (picture by Fife Photo Agency)
A studious-looking John McGlynn (picture by Fife Photo Agency)

Raith Rovers welcome Dick Campbell’s Arbroath to Stark’s Park as the first quarter of the league campaign concludes.

The Angus side are unbeaten in seven games and boss Campbell has just picked up yet more accolades, while Raith are in good form after a very testing bout of activity – so the potential for a great game is strong.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The fixture card has kept Rovers well occupied in recent days, with a good cup display against Celtic thrown in among league games with Morton, Partick Thistle, Dunfermline and Kilmarnock, from which Raith extracted 10 points out of 12. Last Saturday, they had a reasonably comfortable win in the Scottish Challenge Cup, defeating East Fife 3-1, so manager John McGlynn is confident they can maintain the momentum.

Arbroath were in great form once again, he noted, with Campbell named manager of the month and Joel Nouble player of the month, following similar recent gongs for Michael McKenna and Campbell again. They were winning games on merit and had a great attitude and work ethic.

“They are doing outstandingly well, considering they are a part-time team,” said McGlynn. “Dick has done his magic again and they’ve made a great start to the season – a brilliant start – and we know we will need to be at our best. We are playing fairly consistently well ourselves and it should be a cracking game.”

He added: “We have managed to keep the momentum going. We wanted to do that in the cup. We were very respectful to East Fife and only made one change. We were looking to continue the momentum – that is what we planned to do and I thought we played well, and also within ourselves. We had another gear or two to go up, so I was delighted that, in that kind of situation, we came out like winners. The momentum is with us. Arbroath drew with Morton in their last league game, away from home, so it’s up to us to make this one a hard game for them as well.” He added: “Everything is rosy in the garden. We just want to keep it going and we know we’ll need to be at out best. Arbroath are going well but the motivation is, with a win, we can jump above Arbroath and get third position after the first quarter of the season.”

Frankie Musonda could be doubtful with injury, while Aaron Arnott will be out for a few weeks after breaking a wrist bone in training.