Raith Rovers boss Barry Robson hits out at "unfair" fixture scheduling
Raith Rovers manager Barry Robson has hit out at the “unfair” nature of his team having to play a league game at Greenock Morton on Saturday, September 6 on a day when rivals Partick Thistle and Dunfermline Athletic have both been granted blank Saturdays due to players being called up for Scotland under-21s.
Thistle, whose on loan goalkeeper from Celtic, Ben McPherson, and midfielder Ts’oanelo Lets’osa have both earned international call-ups, have postponed their away game against Queen’s Park on September 6, while Dunfermline – for whom defender Jeremiah Mullen has also been picked for UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifiers against Czechia and Portugal – have postponed their scheduled home fixture against Ayr United.
But Raith will have to take to the field at Cappielow on September 6 despite the fact they will be missing utility man Richard Chin, 22, who has earned his first senior international call-up for Malaysia and will attend a camp from September 1-9, with the Malaysian squad playing matches against Singapore on September 4 and Palestine on September 8.
Raith gaffer Robson told the Fife Free Press: “Richard is going to travel over and he's going to miss a game for us, which is going to be frustrating.
"It's a bit unfair. I think you see Partick managing to call a game off and then we could lose a couple, if not three, and I think that's unfair.
"But it's something we, as a small squad, have to deal with. Richard is a really important player.
"He's only been with us a bit and then they just call him up. Some of your bigger clubs, it works for them again, doesn't it? They've got more internationals, all right, we'll take it off.
"And then we miss a couple of players, really important ones, but yet we need to play the game. It doesn't make sense, but that's where we're at, as usual.”
Raith will resume their William Hill Championship campaign away to Partick Thistle tomorrow and Robson isn’t even thinking about how impressive his team were in beating Dunfermline 2-0 at home last Friday night.
He said: “The derby's gone. My mind's been on Patrick Thistle since half an hour after the derby game. So any players should think that.
"You can only celebrate at the end of the season when you've achieved something.
"Massive challenge again. Partick Thistle, I believe, will be up there this season again. I think they've got some really good players. So it's going to be a difficult game for us. Always is, hard place to go. Big pitch, their fans there.”
In terms of team news, Robson added: “Yeah, we're all right. Everybody's all right.
"Smithy (Callum Smith) is nearly there. We're hoping in a couple of weeks we'll get him back.
"He's got to see his consultant maybe next week. So yeah, if he gets all cleared in, we might see him back. It'll take a while though.
"He's full running, twisting, turning. He's doing everything. We're actually hoping, fingers crossed, maybe in a couple of weeks we might get him back on the training pitch. Then it'll take him a while.
"I wouldn't even attempt to play him in a game or anything for at least a month.”