Raith Rovers have been handed mixed news on the injury front ahead of Saturday’s clash with Queen’s Park.
The Stark’s Park outfit are determined to build on their victories over Dunfermline and Partick Thistle that hauled them to within a point of Dundee United at the top of the Championship.
And they will travel west with the experienced Keith Watson restored to their squad following a groin issue.
The former Dundee United defender limped out of the recent 3-2 defeat to Arbroath and has since missed the historic Fife derby triumph and Tuesday’s hard-fought 1-0 win at Firhill.
However, the 34-year-old has returned to full training this week and will be available again for the trip to Hampden.
Manager Ian Murray said: “We’re okay for the weekend. There were a couple of bumps and bruises, but nothing of massive concern.
“Keith Watson trained fully, which is great.
“That was his plan, to train on Thursday, and he did it.”
However, on the downside it appears that winger Josh Mullin will not feature against Queen’s Park.
Mullin ‘still sore’
The former Livingston and Ross County wide man had to be substituted early in the second-half against Dunfermline with a rib injury.
Murray added: “Josh hasn’t trained yet. He’s still sore, so we’ll have to wait and see, but he’ll be struggling for the weekend.
“He got a bang on his ribs and it’s one of those ones where there’s not much we can do about it or for it.”
Whether Watson returns to the starting line-up will be a major decision for Murray and his management team.
Raith fell apart without the veteran centre-half against Arbroath, but have since kept two clean sheets in Watson’s absence.
Skipper Scott Brown has filled in at the heart of the rearguard, as he has done for much of the season due to injuries, and he may be asked to continue in that role.
Whoever plays, Murray insists criticism of his defence, which has conceded more than twice as many goals (36) than title rivals Dundee United (17), has been overblown.
He said: “I know a lot of people say we attack and our defence is ropey, but I felt the defenders were getting a bit of a hard time for that.
“I didn’t feel that teams had cut through us very often.
“There’s always goals in games and everybody likes to highlight negative things as well.
Raith have defended ‘really, really well’
“But I didn’t think there were too many times this season when teams have cut through us.
“There’s been a few set-plays and second balls in the box and stuff, which happens.
“But in general the boys have defended really, really well, and we had to do it for large parts against Dunfermline on Saturday and again on Tuesday night.
“At this stage of the season, it’s about trying to win games and get three points.
“There’ll be a few more games like that coming up, I’m pretty sure of it, where they won’t be very pretty on the eye but very important.
