This pretty much sums up what I thought about the game. I would like to have seen more of the new signings in action, but at the same time it was useful to see how just a couple of new players fitted into an otherwise familiar team. Vincent didn't really make any impact on me, but in fairness, he did spend most of the game in that deep-lying role where it is possible to do simple but important things well and stay under the radar. First impressions are that he doesn't quite have the presence and drive of Draper (who I would hope will be kept in that central role rather than being stuck out wide as he was sometimes towards the end of last season), but it will probably take him a few games to grow into the team and start to show his best game. Similar to his performance last week against Elgin, Greenhalgh looked keen and tried to get onto the ball, but most of the time the Raith right back had him in his pocket. Like Roberts last season, he looked like he would struggle to compete for strength with a lot of the SPL players and would get bullied off the ball too easily. Again, obviously these are very early days, but he is a player who is likely to be played in a prominent attacking wide role, and unless he can work on improving his strength on the ball quickly, people might start to get frustrated with him. He does look like he's got a bit of skill, however.
Williams certainly looked nippier and more direct and dangerous than Greenhalgh when he came on, and I'll look forward to seeing more of him, but for me the real positive was Liam Polworth's display in the second half. The goal, which was a screamer, epitomised his performance - driving forward from midfield, taking the ball on, looking for opportunities. The whole team seemed lifted by his presence. Arguably the most important question about our team for the coming season will be who fulfils the Andrew Shinnie role and provides the key support for Billy Mackay (who looked sharp and worked very hard yesterday, but was far too poorly served in the first half). I had assumed that either Foran or Doran or possibly Greenhalgh would be tried there, but I wonder if Polworth might turn out to be the best option?
Ideally, I'd like to have seen a performance that showed more clearly why we are a division above Raith, but while we were outplayed by a strong and tidy-looking team in the first half, the second certainly provided some grounds for optimism and raised a few interesting questions about how we will line up for the start of the season.