Raith Rovers: Iain Murray hails ‘exceptional’ team after Accies’ win

Just two minutes had been played when Easton shot home at the Fountain of Youth Stadium, with Rovers continuing to dominate before Gullan rifled in a second on 73 minutes to take the Kirkcaldy side fifth in the table on six points from four games after back-to-back league wins.

“I was delighted with the work ethic first and foremost,” Murray said. “I thought the boys, from the first minute to the last including injury time, on another very hot day, were exceptional.

"That gave us the platform to go and play within the game.

"We got off to a great start again, things in training that we’ve worked on the last few days.

"We went with a wee change of formation, the same personnel with just a little tweak here or there.

"We probably felt like we thought Hamilton would see our team and think we were playing the same 4-3-3 but we decided to go 4-1-3-2.

"I felt our players dealt with the injury to Scott Brown as well which obviously knocked us a wee bit having to change things about.

"But when you’ve got good players within your squad or within your team you can change it quickly.”

Murray, speaking to Raith TV, said Easton’s early strike had inspired a positive mindset within his squad for the duration of the game.

The former Airdrieonians gaffer added: "No disrespect to Hamilton but I felt the game should have been out of sight at half-time.

"But you are always worried on the flip side.

"We identified areas that Hamilton did do well in the first half that could cause us problems second half, especially their players cutting inside and midfield runners going beyond their striker.

"But we’d been working towards that all week, it was nothing we didn’t expect so full credit to the players for handling that.

“For the second goal, Hammer (Gullan’s nickname) actually wins us the ball in our half and then he's up the other end about seven seconds later scoring the goal and it was nothing more than he deserved.

"I’ve kept on at Hammer. He gets a wee bit frustrated with himself when he doesn’t score goals but it’s about work-rate, it's about bashing centre halves about and you will get your goals eventually. I have tried to drum that into all our strikers.

"Some days it doesn’t fall for you, some weeks it doesn’t fall for you. It can take you months to get goals but your work-rate should never drop because when you keep that high intensity you will get your reward.

"I questioned the players’ character after the Cove Rangers game (a 2-0 opening league defeat for Raith on July 30) and I told them after the Accies game that they have responded in the best possible fashion and shown myself exactly what we’re all about.

"They’ve not just got character and work-rate, they’ve got very good quality when we get the ball down as well. The league is very difficult and it’s a great three points for us.”