BY ALAN TEMPLE – @CCP_Sport
RAITH ROVERS have been handed a major fitness boost as four first-team stars close in on a return to action.
Former Kilmarnock winger Chris Johnston was back in training this week after missing Rovers’ last four fixtures with a knee injury, while goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert is also nearing a comeback.
Numbers at the club’s Glenrothes training base will be further bolstered this morning when Jean-Yves M’voto and Mark Stewart, recent absentees due to calf and hamstring strains respectively, are due to take part in a session.
The sight of players gradually emerging from the treatment room will be a welcome one for boss Gary Locke, who has lamented the injury “nightmare” Raith have endured in the past month.
As well as long-term victims Scott Robertson and Craig Barr, the Fifers have been without on-loan goalkeeper Aaron Lennox and were unable to field a full substitutes bench against Falkirk during last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat.
Locke said: “It has been a frustrating period for myself and Darren [Jackson, assistant manager]. It is part and parcel of the game, but it has been a bit of a nightmare that we’ve lost so many players at the one time.
“Every one of those players would probably come in and give us a headache for a place in the team and I firmly believe that if you have options then it brings out the best in other players – but lately we have not been able to fill our bench.”
