Raith Rovers boss John McGlynn has admitted he is wary about today’s Scottish Communities League Cup tie against a Montrose team with a point to prove.
The Links Park outfit suffered a humiliating 6-1 thumping at the hands of East Fife in the Ramsdens Cup last week.
McGlynn is well aware that Montrose boss Ray Farningham will be looking for a reaction from his players, which is why the Stark’s Park gaffer is approaching the tie with caution especially as Montrose have beaten Raith already this month in a pre-season friendly.
“Montrose lost a number of goals last week and will be looking to tighten up against us,” he said. “The last thing they will want is to suffer two heavy back-to-back defeats especially after doing well in pre-season, including a win over ourselves.
“One of the reasons for playing that game was to give our players a chance to get used to the artificial surface at Montrose.
“It should hold no surprises for us and it certainly did not hinder East Fife last week. So, if we can put in a professional performance, I am sure we can get the right result and hopefully go on a cup run.”
Raith put their own poor pre-season form behind them to beat near-neighbours Cowdenbeath in the Ramsdens cup last weekend thanks to a brace from their top striker John Baird.
While delighted with that win, McGlynn admitted he is looking for other players to start to hitting the back of the net.
“We cannot let all the goal-scoring burden fall on John Baird’s shoulders,” he added. “It goes without saying that we want others to contribute and I am sure that will happen soon.More goals”We have been very pleased with the performances of the players in every game so far and we just need to add a few more goals.”
Dougie Hill, Iain Davidson and Scott McBride are set to miss today’s game through injury, but McGlynn is hoping to have all three back training at the start of next week with a view to being fit enough to face Falkirk in the first division opener.
Meanwhile, Farningham has told his players they can play without pressure against Raith after last week’s thrashing.
That was a sore one and Farningham is looking for a vast improvement this afternoon. However, he believes the fact they are up against a team that just missed out on promotion to the SPL last season means they have no weight on their shoulders.
“Of course we were all disappointed to lose like that, but since then we have trained hard and spoken about things,” he said.
“I now hope the players will take on board what has been said to them and that they really take part in the game, because they didn’t really do that against East Fife.
“There is no pressure on us because we are playing a top first division side, who had a great season last time around.
“All I ask is that we go out there with the right attitude and work hard.”
Montrose, who have an injury doubt over Steven McPhee, gave themselves a pre-match boost by completing the signing of Jamie Winter from Broughty Athletic.