Raith Rovers' Euan Murray: We can charge up table after bad Ayr day

Arguably even more surprising was rivals Partick Thistle’s 4-1 home reverse at home to lowly Dunfermline Athletic, meaning sixth-placed Raith – on 24 points from 19 fixtures – stayed only eight points below the fourth-placed Jags and the final play-off spot, having played a game fewer.

“I think last weekend’s results sum up this league in a nutshell,” Stark’s Park centre-back Euan Murray, 30, told the Fife Free Press. “It can throw folk off at times, it can be unpredictable.

"We were off the back of three good wins in a row but then we performed very poorly on Saturday. It just shows you that anyone can beat anyone on their day.

"I just felt we had been starting to get that consistency with those three wins on the trot.

"We can worry about all these other teams but for me it’s about trying to make sure we put on regular good performances and start winning games regularly, which we did last season.

"I think if we go on a run – which we can do as we have the potential – we can climb the table. But it’s no good me telling you that or us talking about it, we need to go and do it. And we’re the only folks that can drag ourselves up the league table.

"It’s not about making excuses about what’s been going on this season, it’s about grinding results out, going away from home to places like Ayr United where it’s not going to be pretty and picking up points.

"We are not too far away from teams like Partick Thistle. Hopefully if we can get it together and get on a consistent run of form we can climb up the table because I think everybody knows there is an abundance of quality in the group. It’s just about bringing that out every single week.”

Under new manager Barry Robson, Rovers endured a torrid first half at Somerset Park – going three goals down to a George Oakley hat-trick – as they struggled with key defender Paul Hanlon being injured in the warm-up.

Murray said: "Obviously big Paul dropping out in the warm-up wasn't ideal. I felt a bit for Callum Fordyce as well, getting drafted in at short notice.

"Dycey does everything well, he's a really good professional and he would have prepared himself properly for the game, but you are thrown in at the deep end as well.

"We just didn't start well. We never gave ourselves a chance in the game. We were behind after two minutes, Ayr United got their tails up, their chests go out and from there we're chasing it.

"Going into the game the manager had spoken about it, we knew that Ayr were going to be direct, they were going to be physical, they were going to be on top of us and we knew we were going to have to run and work for each other.

"We can talk all we want before the game and we can have game plans but if you make it such an uphill task as we did in that first half then everything goes out the window. That responsibility falls on us."

Although Raith have been blighted by injuries this season and are on their third manager of the campaign after Ian Murray’s successor Neill Collins was snared by Sacramento Republic last month, Murray is making no excuses for their overall form this season.

He said: "A few things have gone against us throughout the season but unfortunately there's no hard luck stories in football.

"We are where we are for a reason. That's because performances over the piece haven't been good enough.

"There's been a bit of disruption throughout the season I would say. There has been a lot of change and it isn't easy.

"But at the end of the day we're still paid to go out there and perform on a Saturday. Everybody doesn't look for excuses. We look to go out there and implement what we are trying to do.”