Raith Rovers: Squad being stretched by fixture demands says boss Ian Murray

It's a busy spell for Raith Rovers boss Ian Murray and his players (Pic by Euan Cherry/SNS Group)

Four days after last Monday’s 1-0 Championship win at Hamilton Accies, Raith drew 1-1 at home to Dundee in the league on Friday night. Their SPFL Trust Trophy quarter-final at Queen’s Park at Ochilview this Wednesday, kick-off 7.45pm, will be followed by this Saturday’s league trip to Cove Rangers, kick-off 3pm.

“It’s difficult,” Murray told Raith TV. “We knew it was going to be a busy period.

"Moving the game to Friday night was tough as well for both teams because obviously we played Monday and we didn’t have a lot of rest time and time to change things around.

"So it was a really quick turnaround. There’s pros and cons of playing on Wednesday, the Tuesday could be slightly better for us but that’s football, that’s the way it goes.

"It’s like anything else, once the games are coming the players want to play. It doesn’t matter what you’re playing in, you could be playing down the park and you want to be prepared and you want to win the game.

"So we go out on Wednesday night against another very good team who are sitting top of the league and we try to win because it’s an opportunity to get into a semi-final.

"It probably is an opportunity to rotate. We will change a couple but we’re not in a position but we don’t have the luxury of being able to change 11 or even seven or eight of them at the moment.

"We have a few boys still on tha treatment table. But I trust the players fully.

"They give me everything every single day in training, every single game.”