Ian Murray insists Raith Rovers have belief they can turn round their Premiership play-off final and has vowed to ‘give it a right good go’ against Ross County on Sunday.
The Stark’s Park side will travel north for the second-leg with a 2-1 deficit to overcome after a rollercoaster first-leg in Kirkcaldy.
A Yan Dhanda penalty and a Jack Baldwin header put the top-flight side in full command of the tie with a 2-0 lead.
But Sam Stanton gave Raith hope with a thrilling 83rd minute strike that roused Rovers for a grandstand finish.
Josh Mullin, however, fired wide with just a minute left in regulation time to leave the Fifers needing another comeback to realise their promotion dreams.
“That goal gives us a chance,” said Murray. “We know it’s going to be difficult but we know what we have to do, which is good.
“We’ll have to play better than we did in the first-half, because Ross County put us under a lot of pressure, without creating too much – but we had to defend really well.
“But we’re back in the tie.
“We do believe, we have to, there’s no point in going up there otherwise.
‘Nothing to lose’
“It’s a one-goal tie. We know we have to win by more than one in 90 minutes to progress.
“But as long as we win the game we go into extra-time and you never know.
“It’s going to be hard, we’re not going to be silly about it and think we’re going to go up there and blow Ross County away.
“We’re capable of [doing] it, but we’ll have to play better.
“I think it suits us. We’ve got nothing to lose now.
“This long, hard season has come down to one game on Sunday afternoon.
“We’ll give it a right good go. There’s no point in whimpering out at this stage, that’s for sure.
“We’ll have a look at our team selection and try to score goals, because scoring goals is going to win us the game.”
County’s penalty seven minutes after the restart came after a VAR check.
Eli King’s shot struck the arm of Euan Murray and referee John Beaton pointed to the spot after checking the pitch-side monitor.
VAR reaction
“It was one of those ones,” said Murray of the decision. “With the Ross County boys appealing, you could kind of tell.
“They know it’s a penalty with VAR – and we probably don’t.
“To the letter of the law, it’s probably a penalty-kick. It’s a wee bit unfortunate, but you can’t do it, your arms have to be by your side; that’s the rules.
“Once I had seen it back and now understanding VAR a little bit better I was pretty sure it was going to be given.”
