Raith are ready for the run in, says boss McGlynn

Despite a disappointing third quarter in which they only picked up six points, and the team without a win in 10 games, McGlynn says he has seen enough signs of improvement to give him confidence as Raith look to secure a top four finish, but he expects a close run affair which will see Rovers play five out of the last nine games at home.

“Forget the league being tight, every game is tight,” he said.

“Even when we went 15 games unbeaten. There are very fine margins.

“Arbroath are top and they haven't won in their last four games.

“Winning games is going to mean so much from now on because there have been so many draws.

“Every team is so close to each other. The bottom five are taking points from the top five.

“Inverness are the same as ourselves, they haven't won for nine or ten games, and yet we're both still up there.

“In our case it's because we won so many points early in the season.

“I liked the way we played on Saturday. I saw signs that we're getting back and I think a really good last quarter of the season could see us in fine form for potential play-offs.

“We're still in a good position to go on and challenge.

"Winning the league is not out of the question but that would take an enormous last nine games with one or two of the guys above us having a slip up.

“I'm not giving up on anything but I can see us playing well between now and the end of the season and picking up points.”

Partick Thistle are hard on the heels of the Stark’s Park club and McGlynn says he thought Raith deserved three points against the Jags last weekend which would have given his side a bit more breathing room.

“We were definitely disappointed that we didn't get all three points because we thought our play merited it.

“We were much improved and it was a 90 minute performance which is what I'd been asking them for.

“There's not a lot to separate any of the teams in this league so you never get it all your own way throughout a game, but I thought we were very much on the front foot and we took the game to Partick at every opportunity.

“At the moment we're not finding that little bit of quality to get the ball into the net, but there's loads to be positive about from that performance.

“We have the GPS units that give us all the data about how far the players run, how many sprints they do, etc, and the numbers were well up.

“Your eye may have told you that it was a much better and hard working performance, and the data stacked up as well.”

McGlynn hopes to take heart from the midweek win over Kilmarnock in the SPFL Trust Trophy semi-final, added to the encouraging display against Thistle, and watch Raith welcome Ayr United to Kirkcaldy on Saturday full of confidence that they can finally get that elusive league win.

“Ayr got beat last weekend but they are one of the in form teams,” he said.

“They've done really well of late. They made a few signings, brought two or three guys up from England and changed things around in January.

“They've picked up, as have Morton, and they've left Dunfermline in a precarious league position. They've both got a few points on them now.

“We can't take anything for granted this Saturday.

“At home, we'll always fancy ourselves. Our away record isn't that bad either, but at home we give ourselves a better chance to play.

“I think a few of the players are getting back to form so we need to try and win this league game and turn the corner.”

In welcome news, McGlynn expects Ethan Ross to be back from a hamstring complaint and is hopeful that Brad Spencer may make the bench after breaking his foot at the beginning of December.

Jamie Gullan remains doubtful however as he has yet to fully recover from illness.