Raith Rovers have a good squad but we need to go out and prove it – Ross Matthews

Rovers go into their league opener at Dumbarton on the back of a resounding 3-0 defeat at the home of the SPFL newcomers that saw the John McGlynn’s men finish bottom of their Betfred Cup group.

Things may have not gone according to plan in the cup, but Matthews, who heads into his seventh season with the club, is positive the team can have a better campaign in the league.

“I’m definitely confident going into the league season,” he said.

“I honestly feel we’ve got a really good squad - we just need to go out there and prove it.

“It’s easy for me to say whatever I want, but it’s actually going out there and doing it.

“I’ve been here a long time now, and it’s time we changed things because I’m getting just as frustrated as everyone associated with the club.”

The 23-year-old had been showing good form prior to Saturday’s match – continuing on from a strong finish to last season – and he hopes lessons can be learned from the defeat to Cove.

“Going from such a good performance on Tuesday to that wasn’t acceptable,” he said.

“We should be up for every game no matter what.

“The manager kept us in to tell us what he thought of it and nobody could disagree with him.

“We know ourselves it wasn’t good enough.

“Even in the other defeats there was positives, but everything just seemed to go wrong.

“Something wasn’t quite right so we need to learn from it.”

Rovers away form has been their biggest downfall in their attempts to return to the Championship, something Matthews is hoping to address this term.

“You can see from the Peterhead game the quality we have, but it’s just having that consistently that will be the difference,” he said.

“Last year Arbroath ground out results every game, and we need to go away from home and do the same.

“It’s all good playing nice football at home but away from home we need to grind out results and that will be the difference.”

Rovers go into the campaign as second favourites behind a Falkirk side heavily backed for an instant return to the Championship.

“It’s a bit different because the last couple of years we’ve been favourites and we know how difficult that is,” Matthew said.

“We just need to focus on ourselves because we’ve definitely got a good enough squad to be promoted.

“I’d love to win the league, but I honestly don’t care how we do it as long as the club gets promoted.

“If someone offered me promotion right now through the play-offs I’d take it.”