The Stark’s Park men failed to secure the win they needed to move top of the Championship.
Euan Murray’s message to Raith Rovers is simple: remain cool and go on in their topsy-turvy title chase with Dundee United.
The Stark’s Park men were kept to a Hampden draw by Queen’s Park, failing to capitalise on United’s slip-up against Dunfermline.
There was no doubt considerable irritation in the Kirkcaldy ranks, knowing that success would have sent them two points clear at the top of the Championship.
But manager Ian Murray was full of admiration for his team, which earned seven points out of a possible nine in the span of a week.
With two of those games away from home, a hat-trick of straight clean sheets in seven days gave the Rovers manager cause for optimism.
And Murray, who won the Championship with Kilmarnock two seasons ago, understands that the final stretch will never be easy.
The 30-year-old stated, “We simply need to put Dundee United on the back burner and focus on ourselves.”
“Obviously, we knew going into the game that if we won, we’d finish first in the league. However, in the big scheme of things, that is seven out of nine in a week.
“We must remember where we are as a football club and who we are. We have no divine authority to beat anyone.
Murray: ‘We’ll regroup and go again.'”I believed we gave our all against Queen’s Park. We couldn’t have done more, and their goalkeepers made a couple of excellent saves, and they didn’t pose much of a threat to us on the other end.
“All in all, frustrated but we go again.”
Murray continued, “It’s all about staying cool. It’s about not getting too excited when you win games and not getting too down when things don’t go your way, as they did on Saturday.
“So we’ll regroup and go again. It’s been a decent week, we’ve got back to being solid and what we were like at the start of the season.
“So, there are positives to take and we’ll pick the bones out of where we can brush up on.”
Murray, who headed in the winner in last Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Partick Thistle, helped Raith keep Queen’s Park at bay for most of another hard-fought 90 minutes.
And they just could not find a way past the home rearguard at the other end.
The visitors ramped up the pressure as time ticked away and former Dundee keeper Calum Ferrie pulled off two magnificent saves in the closing stages to keep the scoreline blank.
First, he denied substitute Scott McGill with a strong right hand and then the 25-year-old clawed away a brilliant flick from Sam Stanton that was heading for the top corner.
Pressure
During Rovers’ strong second-half performance, he also blocked a Dylan Easton curler and turned a Lewis Vaughan shot away from goal with his legs.
Given that Stark’s Park will not play next weekend, the initiative now shifts to United.
However, with Raith’s next game against the Tangerines on March 30, Murray believes there is still plenty of life in the title chase.
He stated, “All we can do is attempt to push Dundee United for as long as possible, and ideally it will come down to the last few games.
“We know they will be under a lot of pressure if it comes down to the last few games.
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