Kyle Connell had two very different loan experiences before he made a third to Stark’s Park.
The Raith Rovers striker’s loan runs out in January, as does his deal with his parent club Kilmarnock.
So far the 21-year-old has not decided what lies ahead beyond January.
Connell scored eight goals for East Fife last season as they were relegated to
League 2.
The year before he helped Airdrie a second-place finish under Ian Murray where he scored six times.
Learning from experience
Connell name-checks several players, later adding manager Stevie Crawford who was today announced as Liam Fox’s assistant at Dundee United.
On his spell at East Fife, Connell said: “I had loads of great experiences in that changing room.
“As a young boy you need to be able to take information on.
“That’s what I did. You had Chris Higgins, Scott Mercer, Ryan Wallace – they’ve all played hundreds of games.
“You’re just a wee guy trying to listen and ask questions. I think they helped me massively.
“So did Stevie Crawford as well, being a striker. He helped me with other things as well.”
“My first year we were fighting with promotion with Airdrie, my second year I’m fighting relegation.
“I think I’ve had a good balance and hopefully I can bring that into this team.”
We didn’t ‘click’
Connell’s immediate aim is to improve markedly on the performance of Raith’s last visit to the Balmoral Stadium -where Connell made his debut.
He sees no reason why they can’t go all the way again as they kick off their defence of the SPFL Trust Trophy.
His manager has already seen a lot of improvement since that game.
The striker scored a double against the Aberdeen outfit for East Fife last season and last week he opened his Raith account with the first in the 3-2 win over Ayr United.
That turn… that finish… 😍
It was a magnificent first goal in a Rovers jersey for Kyle Connell on Saturday👏🏼#YourRovers pic.twitter.com/rNlPcNYTM0
— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) September 20, 2022
Connell added: “We need to show up this time because we didn’t do the fans justice the first time we played them.
“The first performance was terrible, we didn’t click at all.
“We need to go up there and put on a good show and hopefully get the win.”
Conversation