There are some who have already written off Dundee’s promotion hopes for this season but Raith boss John McGlynn isn’t among them.
McGlynn’s side face the pre-season championship favourites at Stark’s Park on Saturday, with the Dark Blues sitting second bottom of the First Division having lost their last two league games.
However, the Rovers manager believes there is still enough quality within Barry Smith’s ranks to make him approach the match with a large degree of caution.
He said: “Games against Dundee are usually quite close and I do not think this one will be any different.
“A lot of people are saying they have not started the season very well and that this might be the right time to play them.
“But they have a lot of good players and they showed after they went into administration last year that they have a great spirit within their squad as well. So the start of September is definitely too early to be writing them off.
“If nothing else, it looks like this league will be wide open this season. Everyone is capable of taking points off one another and I think it will be incredibly close like three years ago when there was often nothing between second top and second bottom.
“I think it could be the same again as the squads are all evenly matched. It could all come down to whoever can keep their players fit and on the park.”
Raith lost their last league game at Ayr when they were forced to play almost an hour with 10 men after young Ross Callachan was sent off. However, McGlynn said his players will approach the game with confidence after two morale-boosting results during the break.
He added: “We beat Dunfermline in the Fife Cup and then won a friendly against Partick Thistle last Thursday. We rotated the squad around to give everyone a game.
“It was important to keep everyone ticking over and while it may have been our first team against sides which maybe played some youngsters, it was still good to get two wins under our belts.
“The lads showed great spirit to equalise at Ayr when we had gone down to 10 men. It looked like we might hang on for a point but they got their late winner after one setpiece too many for us to defend.”