Raith Rovers gaffer Ian Murray sticks up for his 'under fire' defence

Scott Brown has regularly filled in at centre-back (Pic Mark Scates/SNS Group)Scott Brown has regularly filled in at centre-back (Pic Mark Scates/SNS Group)
Scott Brown has regularly filled in at centre-back (Pic Mark Scates/SNS Group)
During a season in which some sections of the media have criticised Raith Rovers’ defence at various points, manager Ian Murray has stood up for a rearguard which has conceded 42 goals, a tally only bettered by champions Dundee United (23 conceded) and Inverness Caledonian Thistle (40 conceded).

Murray told Raith TV: “Our defence has been given a bit of a bad press I would say over this season.

"We finished third best defence in the league and that’s remembering that we’ve had a lot of injuries in there, we’ve had to play a central midfielder (Scott Brown) quite a few times at centre-back.

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"We finished the Arbroath game with two central midfielders at centre-back and a central midfielder at left back.

"So the boys deserve a lot of credit.

"We’ve brought a young goalkeeper (Kevin Dabrowski) in, his first season as a number one, and he finishes in that fashion.

"It’s easy to throw stones at people, but when you look at the facts that’s what’s happened, so I’m really, really happy.

"I was delighted to get us into second position.”

And, assessing Rovers’ overall regular campaign, Murray told the Fife Free Press: "The highest point of this season is tough to pick, we've had so many.

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"Beating Dundee United twice, with wonder goals by Dylan Easton and Scott Brown would be up there.

"The 3-0 win at East End Park was great in the Scottish Cup.

"Low points? There are always low points in football.”

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