Raith Rovers skipper Scott Brown assesses prospect of catching Partick Thistle and squeezing into play-offs

A win for skipper Brown and his team-mates in North Lanarkshire in midweek would have moved Raith just a point behind Thistle with a game in hand, but the fifth-placed Stark’s Parkers are now four adrift of the Jags, with Rovers on 33 points from 25 fixtures ahead of hosting Queen’s Park in Fife tomorrow (Saturday) in a 3pm kick-off.

Brown, 30, told the Fife Free Press: “It was a disappointing result for us at Airdrie. Obviously it was a game we were looking to win and get within touching distance of Partick Thistle with a game in hand. They’ve obviously got a tricky game tonight against Livingston.

"I don’t think catching Thistle has gone by any manner of means. It would be good for us to follow it up tomorrow with a win and kind of rectify that result on Tuesday night.

"Especially away from home, we’ve kind of struggled against Airdrie. But to be fair to Airdrie I thought they were pretty decent to be honest.

"I think they are in a false position. I think they are a lot better than their league position would suggest, especially now they have got injured players back.

"I think they are unbeaten in five league games so they are starting to show their quality as well.

"I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason why we find Airdrie so tricky to play. There are so many tough places to go in this league.

"It’s the same when Partick Thistle come to play us at Raith, they seem to struggle.

"These things seem to happen in football where there are always places where you struggle to win.

“I didn’t think there was a lot in the game the other night to be honest. We certainly weren’t at our best but I’ve certainly seen us – particularly away to Airdrie – play a lot worse than that.

"But our home record’s been good and we have another home game tomorrow.

"We just keep going and trying to pick up as many points as possible. It’s been good under the new manager (Barry Robson). We’ve had two good home results in a row which is massive in this league if you can win your home games.”