'We must be more ruthless' - Raith Rovers boss Ian Murray admits side have to start scoring more goals

Murray’s men have netted just eight times in the league this term to top dogs Thistle’s 21, although both sides have conceded 11 goals thus far in Scotland's second tier.

The Rovers gaffer told the Fife Free Press: "It was something we highlighted to the players on Tuesday morning in a quick overview of the first quarter effectively, we’ve not scored as many as we want to or need to, for whatever reason.

"It ultimately comes down to decision making. We’ve got into great areas of the park but picked the wrong option or lacked a bit of quality.

"So it’s definitely something that we need to improve on.

"It’s the hardest part of football scoring goals but ultimately that is how you win games so it’s something that we need to get better at.

"It’s been a wee bit stop/start at that end of the pitch with injuries as well.

"There’s a lot of reasons but the bottom line is we need to be better at it.”

Rovers’ next chance to be more prolific in front of goal comes via this Saturday’s home league game against Cove Rangers.

Despite it only being early October, this will already be the third time ex-Airdrieonians gaffer Murray’s outfit will have taken on Jim McIntyre’s Aberdeen-based side in the 2022-23 campaign.

Although Cove beat Raith 2-0 in the league opener at Balmoral Stadium on July 30, Rovers won 1-0 in an SPFL Trust Trophy third round encounter on September 24.

But playing a team so often in such a short space of time is nothing new to Murray, as he explained.

"Although this will be the third time we’ve played Cove Rangers this season one was in the cup so it’s slightly different,” the gaffer added.

"The transfer window’s closed so it’s slightly different teams that are playing.

"But if we go back to last season we (Airdrie) played Queen’s Park eight times in the season, including the SPFL Cup, League Cup, league and play-offs. So it’s a lot of times to play one team.

"When it comes to that stage it gets a bit monoto nous.

“But that is the risk we run by having such small leagues and playing each other four times.

"If you draw even once in the cup that’s five games against one team which is a lot. It doesn’t take away the bottom line that you want to win the games or try to win the games but it can become a little bit monotonous for the players and supporters I guess more than anybody else.

"But it is what it is, we have to get on with it and try and win the game on Saturday.”

Murray, who said on Tuesday that there was no update on Raith appointing a new assistant manager to replace recently departed Scott Agnew, said that his only injury absentees for this weekend are Thomas Laing and Lewis Vaughan.

And the Stark's Park gaffer, a former Hibs defender, gave his thoughts on current Easter Road stopper Ryan Porteous silencing his crictics with an outstanding display for Scotland in last midweek’s 0-0 draw against Ukraine which sealed top spot in the Nations League group, promotion and earned a spot in the play-off semi-finals for Euro 2024.

"I think we were all delighted that Ryan proved his crictics wrong regardless of what team we support,” Murray said.

"It was a huge game for Scotland, a huge game for Ryan.

"We all know he’s had a few incidents in the past but I think people forget his age.

"He’s played a lot of games for Hibs but he’s only 23.

"He’s got a lot of pressure on at the moment coming towards the end of a contract, possibly could be a Bosman or re-sign for Hibs so there’s a lot going on for Ryan.

"For him to step in and do so well I do believe came from the manager Steve Clarke who seems to have a really calm group of players and calm management style.

"And I’m sure Ryan knew the line that he couldn’t cross in terms of on the pitch.

"He knew at that level the slightest mistake, the tiniest mistake can cost your nation an opportunity to go into Group A and an opportunity to qualify for the Euros.

"That’s how big and how fine the lines can be.

"I was impressed with Scotland, they looked very organised and very difficult to score against.

"They gave chances away but their distances from defence to midfield and in between defenders was great.

"For Ryan’s first game, although he has people round about him, he has gone from zero to hero pretty quickly and I’m sure there are a few people waiting on him going back down to zero because that’s the nature of the beast unfortunately.”