The first thing Ian Murray told his players after their hard-fought 3-2 win over Morton last weekend was that they must improve.
Raith Rovers have made a “solid” start to the season, according to their manager, picking up four points from their opening two Championship fixtures and coming through a difficult Viaplay Cup group.
That second-placed finish was good enough to set up a last-16 tie versus Murray’s former side – and boyhood club – Hibs.
“We’re looking forward to it, but we need to play a lot better,” said Murray.
“I said that to them straight away on Saturday: if we go to Easter Road and play like that then it’s going to be a heck of a long afternoon for us.
Raith Rovers must rediscover belief against Hibs in Viaplay Cup
“We need to get our belief back in passing the ball. Get our belief back in terms of getting close to men.
“We’ll look forward to it, we’ve had a really solid start to the season, nothing more than that.
“We got through in the League Cup, then four points out of six and five goals in the league.
“We’re a dangerous side, but we need to brush up.”
Before that, Hibs have the small matter of a Europa Conference qualifier second leg against Luzern as Lee Johnson’s side take a 3-1 lead to Switzerland.
Hibswere ‘excellent’ in first leg
“Their European game for Hibs could work in our favour,” added the Rovers boss, “but it could give them huge momentum going into it if they go over to Switzerland and get a great result, which they are capable of.
“I thought they were excellent in the first leg and deserved their win.
“They’ve got a huge squad, so they’ve got good players all over the place.
“We just have to go there and cause there and concentrate on ourselves. We know it’s going to be extremely difficult, but we can do it.”
Raith Rovers sharing the goals around
Murray is pleased with how his own squad has come together over the summer.
Shaun Byrne was the latest addition and made his debut from the bench on Saturday as Raith tried to stem the flow of Morton pressure.
Fellow summer signing Jack Hamilton got his first goal for Rovers then too, meaning all attacking players have contributed to goals already at this early stage of the season.
“We’re sharing the goals about, which is brilliant,” said Murray.
“We always want a 20-goal striker, but if we can get everybody on seven, eight, nine, 10, then we’re going to score a lot of goals.
“We got another few goals on Saturday, decent goals as well.”
