'Training is more low key this week' - Raith Rovers boss Ian Murray tweaks preparations ahead of facing Owen Coyle's Queen's Park this Saturday
“We’ve taken the training down a little bit, nothing crazy,” Murray told the Fife Free Press. “You try and observe during the game and boys looked a wee bit leggy in the second half.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"It’s nothing major, you could put it down to many factors. It might be the training load we gave them, maybe we trained them too long.
"Maybe it was going from astroturf to grass, maybe it was players not preparing right, maybe it was a combination of everything.
"Maybe it was one of those games where it was different to previous weeks. We were chasing the game after 60 minutes and that’s not been the case in the last four or five weeks.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"Sometimes just reducing the intensity of training can help us towards this Saturday.
"It’s been a little bit more of a low key week this time and we’ll see if that makes a difference.”
Raith dropped to fifth place on 22 points from 15 games after the Dundee defeat, leaving them six points adrift of leaders Ayr United.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMurray, who believes his side are still very much in the title race, revealed that injured Ross Matthews remains out for the Queen’s Park game.
But Ethan Ross and Jamie Gullan are welcomed back for the game against Owen Coyle’s side.
"We know we have to win to get back into the top four,” Murray added.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"It was 1-0 to Queen’s Park against us at their place (on October 1).
"It was a hard game. We actually played fairly well in the game, very unfortunate not to take anything but lost the game from a setplay.
"Now we’ve got them back at ours this week.
"We look to get back to winning ways against a good side.
"It was a really good win for them against Inverness (a 2-1 home success last Saturday), they played very well going by the videos.
"It will be a tough one, they play some good stuff. But we know our boys are looking forward to getting back to our pitch and bouncing back.”
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.