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"It’s been disappointing to lose a few daft goals and as a defender you always go out with the aim of returning a clean sheet. We’ve managed that against Clyde and St.Mirren but those were cup games. Now we’re intent on keeping the door closed in the league."
He also commented on how;
"It’s not even down to one player. We all seem to be taking a turn at costly mistakes. And we know that has to stop. We have to eradicate these errors."
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On the playing side, they have made a good start and sit third in the league. Although, they suffered a 4-0 defeat to ICT in the Challenge Cup semi. Supposedly, the goals were due to defensive errors, and despite the scoreline, Raith mitigated that they had the best of the play. A goal by Sutton jnr was disallowed and then in the following two minutes, ICT scored twice. The four goal deficit was contrary to their league form, having conceded only three goals all season. They are yet to conceded away from home.
They visit Perth without the injured Martin Prest, Vincent Talio and Kerl Hawley.
Saints have the same squad from last week and are desperate to put things right.
Billy Stark is encouraged by the home form,
"We’ve scored eight in three league games at Perth and that’s not a bad ratio. We are getting forward and creating but we need to build from a solid defensive base."
He is also looking to Reilly and Robertson to stamp their authority on the game tomorrow;;
"The two Marks are quite similar players in terms of their style; they're both good passers of the ball and both go in hard to challenges. As we've also seen, Mark Robertson has a cracking shot on him which is without a doubt a danger to other teams when we're going forward. I'll look to this pair, who are fairly experienced, to keep the structure together and initiate our advances up the pitch. Raith will be hard match. We knew when they came into the league that they weren't just there to make up the numbers and they've proven that with a good start to the season. They're an attacking team and they score a lot of goals but we're prepared for that and we're looking forward to using our home advantage to take all three points."
RAITH RESULTS:
Sat 02 Aug East Stirlingshire A Sc.Chl.Cup W 5-2 556
Sat 09 Aug St. Mirren H League D 1-1 3,086
Tue 12 Aug Stranraer H Sc.Chl.Cup W 2-0 1,396
Sat 16 Aug Brechin City A League W 3-0 1,021
Sat 23 Aug Ayr United H League D 1-1 2,364
Tue 26 Aug St. Mirren H Sc.Chl.Cup W 3-2 1,949
Sat 30 Aug Falkirk H League L 0-1 4,232
Tue 02 Sep Arbroath A Sc.Lg.Cup L 0-1 879
Sat 13 Sep Queen of the South A League W 2-0 2,142
Tue 16 Sep Inverness Caledonian Thistle H Sc.Chl.Cup L 0-4 2,110
ELSEWHERE:
Dunfermline are due to christen their plastic pitch tomorrow against Hibs.
Di Stefano is still confident on signing Ravioli.
McDiarmid Park will host the U21 international against Lithuania on October 10th and the Challenge Cup Final on October 26th.
Brechin have been fined £500 for fielding an unregistered Derek Soutar against Saints.
Raith are also to introduce cardboard fans.
Hearts may be forced to use Murrayfield.
Celtic keeper, Hedman accepts blame.
FIRST DIVISION FIXTURES;
Brechin City
v Inverness CTClyde
v Falkirk Ross County
v Ayr United St Johnstone
v Raith Rovers St Mirren
v Queen of the S