BY IAIN COLLIN – @CCP_sport
IAIN Davidson clinched promotion to the top-flight with Dundee two years ago – but admits taking Raith Rovers up to the Premiership this season would top the lot in his career.
The Stark’s Park stalwart is relishing the Kirkcaldy side’s position as underdogs as they prepare to take on either Hibs or Falkirk in the play-off quarter-finals this week.
First, they will draw the curtain down on their league campaign with a trip to face Livingston in a dead rubber of a match that will play second fiddle to Wednesday’s play-off first-leg.
And Davidson is desperate to ensure they do not let their chance to be heroes slip through their grasp.
Asked to compare this season with 2014 when Dundee won the Championship, he said: “I think it would probably mean slightly more. At Dundee, we were expected to win the league with the budgets we had, etc.
“With Raith there’s a lesser budget and a lesser squad.
“If we were to get promotion through the play-offs it would be my biggest achievement. It would be great to do it.
“We’ve got a good changing-room, a good gaffer and a good backroom staff, and whoever’s stepped in to the team has done really well, so there’s good players at the club as well.”
Motivation
Much has been made of the race being run between Falkirk and Hibs for second place in the table, with Rovers being sidetracked by the duo’s bitter battle.
But Davidson is quite happy for Raith to be forgotten about ahead of what could be six of the biggest games in the club’s recent history.
When asked about being forgotten about in the play-off fight, the 32-year-old joked: “The gaffer has mentioned that once or twice! Sometimes you do use that as a motivation.
“No-one’s really spoken about us but, the form we’re in, a lot of people might not fancy playing us.
“Falkirk and Hibs are doing their best on Sunday to try and play two less games and they’ll both be going for it in their games.
“We’ll just need to try and take care of Livi and then, come Wednesday night, whoever it is, we’ll do our utmost to try and win the game.”
