BY IAIN COLLIN – @CCP_sport
Ray McKinnon admits Raith Rovers’ defeat to bottom side Alloa Athletic laid bare his side’s desperate need for a goal-scorer.
The Stark’s Park side have failed to score in their last three outings – all defeats – and have picked up just one victory in five matches.
A failure to take a handful of clear opportunities against Alloa proved their undoing on Tuesday night as they lost 1-0 to Iain Flannigan’s late penalty and passed up the chance to go five points clear in fourth spot in the Championship.
With Craig Wighton having been recalled by Dundee and Jon Daly having hung up his boots to join Hearts as a coach, Rovers have drafted in Louis Longridge on loan from Hamilton Accies.
But, with the 24-year-old not regarded as an out-and-out striker, McKinnon is searching high and low for another new recruit to solve his team’s glaring problems in front of goal.
He said: “It was a frustrating night. It’s obviously clear we need a goal-scorer, anybody in the stadium could see that. We need someone who’s really natural.
“We had chances and we should probably have had the game won and we left ourselves open to the sucker-punch, which happened tonight.
“I’m not going to be critical of my players but we know what we’re needing and we’re looking hard for it, but it’s very difficult to find it.
“We created chances and we got into some great areas but for whatever reason we’re not sticking it in the net and we’ve paid the price tonight.
“We’re working hard to get a striker but, let’s be honest, it’s not easy to get a striker that’s going to score a barrowload of goals for you.
“It’s plain to see that’s what we’re needing. We need to be clinical and people need to step up and score a goal when they get the opportunity.
“For anybody watching the game, on the balance of play, we should have won. But football can be cruel and you don’t always get what you want or get out of the game what you deserve.”
And McKinnon was especially rueful of the fact his team passed up the opportunity to cement their position in the promotion play-off places.
He added: “The biggest disappointment is we could have gone five points clear of Queen of the South.
“I’m not going to blame the players and criticise them in public.
“They tried hard, they created chances and on another night we would probably win that game, there’s no doubt about that.”
