Raith Rovers getting into groove despite losing start to warm-up schedule, reckons manager Barry Robson

Robson was happy with what he saw for the first hour or so of his true blues’ loss away to Scottish Lowland Football League outfit Linlithgow Rose on Saturday – an away-day arranged after the friendly they originally had lined up, at home to Stirling Albion, had to be scrapped on police and council advice due to a clash with an Orange march through Kirkcaldy – and isn’t too concerned about having ended up on the wrong end of the scoreline.

Lewis Vaughan put the visitors ahead on 17 minutes with a shot from a rebound following a Josh Mullin corner and they kept hold of that lead for the next hour, only falling behind to goals from Harry McMartin on 78 and Louis Maguire on 83 after making half a dozen changes in the space of ten second-half minutes.

Paul Hanlon, Richard Chin, Vaughan and Scott Brown went off just ahead of the hour mark at Prestonfield, with Lewis Gibson, Kai Montagu, Callum Hannah and a trialist replacing them, and Josh Rae and Ross Matthews followed them off the pitch ten minutes later, making way for Aidan Glavin and Logan Raeside.

The impact that upheaval had on his side’s performance was inevitable but a price worth paying for getting minutes into players’ legs ahead of their next William Hill Championship campaign, Robson told Raith TV afterwards.

“For the first five minutes, we looked a wee bit iffy, but then I thought we got into the groove for the next 40 minutes,” said the 46-year-old.

“We should have scored some more goals.

“Some bits were not so good. Our counter-pressure could have been better in the first half and our distances between players, width and length.

“In the second half, for the ten or 15 minutes before we made all the changes, we started to get into a groove and counter-press well.

“There was chance after chance after chance and I could see the players really looking like where we were, and then we made six changes and brought younger players on.

“You lose your balance and all those sorts of thing and they got a couple of counter-attacks and scored their goals.

“For the first 55 minutes, I thought the boys looked like they were really starting to get into their groove.

“Of course we want to win football matches, no one more than me, but we got through it with no injuries and we’ve still got some players to come back.

“There was a lot of good stuff in the first 55 to 60 minutes and it’s about getting the boys that are going to be playing ready and it was a real learning curve for our younger players.

“You can look into pre-season as much as you want but it’s about getting your players up to optimum fitness and speed and even sharpness at the top end of the pitch.

“It’s about putting demand in them, putting demand in their legs to take them through January, February, March, April time.”

Raith have got further friendlies arranged at home at Stark’s Park to William Hill League One’s Alloa Athletic on Tuesday and away to top-flight Falkirk, with kick-offs at 7.45pm and 2pm respectively.

Raith Rovers:

Josh Rae, Jai Rowe, Paul Hanlon, Callum Fordyce, Richard Chin, Ross Matthews, Lewis Vaughan, Josh Mullin, Scott Brown, Jordan Doherty, Dylan Easton. Subs: Lewis Gibson, Aidan Galvin, Lewis Stevenson, Callum Hannah, Logan Raeside, trialist

Linlithgow Rose:

Cammy Thomson, Dylan Patterson, Connor McMullen, Regan Lumsden, James Berry, Laurie Devine, Craig McCracken, Jamie Watson, Jamie Allan, Louis Maguire, trialist. Subs: Calum Rae, Dean Watson, Hayden Thomson, Harry McMartin, Reuben Lamont, two trialists