Raith Rovers: Fife derby is the perfect friendly, says boss Murray

Raith manager Ian Murray (R) with assistant Scott Agnew. (Pic: Scott Louden)

Last season’s League Two champions will be the third side Murray’s men will have met in pre-season following last Saturday’s 7-1 win over Dunbar United and Wednesday’s meeting with Queen of the South, played as the FFP went to press.

Despite the tie at Kelty’s New Central Park being all about gaining fitness and match sharpness, Murray says he expects his players to be in for a tough time.

"It'll be a good game,” he said, “there's a bit of local rivalry there.

“It'll be a good competitive match to get us ready for the League Cup.

“I'm looking forward to playing them. I've never met them competitively but did in another pre-season friendly a couple of years ago and it was a hard game.

“They obviously had a really good season last year and will be looking to up their levels going into League One.

“Certainly if they want to challenge they'll have to add a few players themselves.

“We're looking forward to it and it's another away game to help get us ready.

“Hopefully both sides will get a good crowd and it's an enjoyable afternoon.

“The main thing for both sides is to have some game time and get out of the stadium with no injuries.”

With three players in Scott Brown, Dylan Easton and Ross Millen added to his squad so far, Murray says he doesn’t expect to make any more signings this week, but added he is not in any great rush.

“It's quiet for ourselves in that regard just now but a lot of teams have only been back for a week or 10 days, we've been back for two and a half weeks now.

“It takes time putting a squad together and we need to take that time to judge players and recruit players.

“I'm pretty relaxed about it though there are areas that we need to strengthen in, like every team, but sometimes there's a domino effect where you need other things to happen before you can make a move.

“It's just important that we get the right players in. We're happy with what we've done so far.

"We're now getting guys up to speed and into the routine of playing games ahead of what is going to be a really hard league.”