After starting the league season with two defeats, Ian Murray remained calm.
While some Raith Rovers supporters were starting to worry the manager saw enough from his side versus Cove Rangers and Dundee to keep the faith.
They have since followed that up with two wins from two.
Jamie Gullan was again heavily involved in the goals versus Hamilton – as he was against Morton.
YESTERDAY'S GOALS | ⚽️
1️⃣ clean sheet
2️⃣ goals
3️⃣ points @DylanEaston31 and @GullanJamie scored in our win against Hamilton Academical yesterday 👏👏Highlights and Ian Murray's post-match thoughts are on the @RaithTV YouTube channel. pic.twitter.com/zumNn5KOak
— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) August 21, 2022
What changed?
Murray explained the difference in his side, which he saw signs of in the narrow defeat to Dundee.
“In that match we did well,” he said.
“The main difference from Cove was the work rate was far higher.
“We also tweaked the defensive system slightly – that came from the staff.
“We had to change our ideas of what to do to make ourselves that bit more compact off the ball – maybe not get attracted to winning the ball too much, wait and be patient.”
Slowly building a partnership
This, said Murray, meant his side were much better out of possession and it led to the new central-defensive partnership’s first clean sheet.
Both 23-year-old Ryan Nolan and 18-year-old Connor O’Riordan were thrown in for their debuts in the last few weeks, less than two days after signing.
“They are two young centre-halves who didn’t know each other and didn’t know Scottish football,” added Murray.
“You can see them slowly building together.
“They’re going to make mistakes but they’re flanked by two fairly experienced full-backs and a really calm, reliable goalkeeper behind them.”
The Raith boss also revealed that custodian Jamie MacDonald had overcome illness to play in Saturday’s win.
Brown update
Rovers lost captain Scott Brown to injury in the first half but Murray explained the problem isn’t as bad as first feared.
“He’s got a glute issue,” said Murray.
“We thought it was a hamstring pull – which would have been a lot worse.
“We’ll rest him this week and check him again on Thursday or Friday.
“He’s probably 50-50 for Saturday.
“If he does miss Saturday we expect him to be fit for the following week.”
Scout report: Jamie Gullan and the important role he plays in Raith Rovers’ attack
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