Raith Rovers’ players deserve a “humungous amount of credit” after reaching another semi-final in the SPFL Trust Trophy, according to manager Ian Murray.
Rovers have now made the last four of the last four iterations of the tournament.
On Friday night they got one back over holders Hamilton Accies, who they lost to in last season’s final at the Falkirk Stadium.
A goal from Sam Stanton and a double from Jack Hamilton gave Rovers a comfortable lead before Dario Zannatta pulled one back and Dylan Easton rounded off the scoring to make it 4-1.
That sets up a last-four tie versus either Airdrie or Morton at Stark’s Park and Murray has urged his charges to use last year’s disappointment to fuel the motivation to reach another final.
Ian Murray: Players deserve huge credit
“You don’t often get a home semi-final so we have to try and capitalise on it,” he said.
“We have to use last season’s disappointment to get us there and then see what happens.
“The main thing is we’ve got an opportunity, that’s all we can ask at this stage of the season.
“The players deserve a humongous amount of credit for what they’ve done so far this season.
“It was comprehensive in the end but it was a funny game. I wouldn’t say we dominated the early stages, I thought we started the first 15 minutes well. We looked really dangerous and scored.
“Hamilton then came into the game without creating too much, I think they had one shot that Kevin gets down well to.
“The game changes with the red card, it gives us a real opportunity.
“But we’ve got to take that opportunity. We know, as we saw on Saturday, when you’re playing against 10 men anything can happen. We were pretty ruthless.
“We had about five or 10 minutes of sloppiness in the second half from which they score, which is disappointing from our point of view.
“But if we look at it realistically, we’ve won 4-1 against when it has been 1-0 men. We have to be quite happy with that.”
Raith striker praised
One player who drew praise from his manager was double-goal hero Hamilton who made it three goals in two games after his equaliser versus Queen’s Park.
Murray said those three goals show the different ways the striker can find the net.
“It’s all about strikers scoring goals and being confident,” said Murray. “He adds another two tonight. One from about three yards and one from about 23 yards.
“That’s what he’s got, he’s got such an arsenal of quality. he can score headers, he can score tap-ins, he can score from outside the box because he hits the ball really hard. I’m delighted for him.”
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