Raith boss Barry Smith has stressed just how important discipline will be this season as his small squad attempt to win promotion back to the Championship.
The Stark’s Park manager insists picking up needless yellow or red cards for offences such as mouthing off to officials will not be tolerated.
And with a fine system in place, his players know they literally cannot afford to fall foul of the man in the middle.
Smith said: “I think everybody knows that discipline is massive for me on the pitch.
“We want to keep all the players on the pitch at all times.
“It is the same as last season where there is a fine system in place for different yellow cards and red cards.
“But it is even more important this year because we are running with such a small squad.
“We don’t want dissent and silly things where players get booked and there is no need for it.
“We look at why they’ve been booked and take everything into consideration but the silly things that are really needless, the boys know they will be getting fined.”
Ironically, Iain Davidson will be available to play a part in a league game for the first time this season when Raith travel to Airdrie tomorrow after serving a ban for offences from the last campaign.
Smith added: “Davo is back from suspension after missing the first three league games.
“He played in the Challenge Cup against Aberdeen and looked up to speed. I thought he had a good game so he is back fit and available.
“Chris Duggan has trained this week so should be available for Saturday. He played 30 minutes against Aberdeen but he still had the problem with his hamstring so missed last week’s game with East Fife.
“Lewis Milne has a problem with his groin but Robbie Thomson is just about back to 100% and there are promising signs with Lewis Vaughan that hopefully he will start joining back in training next week.
“He is pretty much on schedule.”
That game against East Fife ended in a 2-2 draw with Smith admitting he was not happy with the tempo his side played at on their new plastic pitch.
The sprinkler system at Stark’s last week was still not working so the surface was sticky however the manager refused to use that as an excuse.
He said: “I don’t think the dry pitch helped but it is going to be similar through in Airdrie so we have to be ready for that.
“We do have to move the ball quicker, play at a higher tempo and get the ball back quicker.
“It something that we are more than capable of doing but we didn’t last Saturday.
“I am not blaming our pitch – we just have to be quicker and sharper all over the park.”
Smith added: “For as much as Airdrie are a part-time team, the majority of their players are full-time players.
“They are experienced and they have players who have played at this level for a while.
“It is never easy going through to Airdrie but we have to start the game on the front foot.”
