Barry Robson changes Hearts loanee’s position and it reaps major rewards as star shines in Raith Rovers win.
The Hearts loanee is thriving away from Tynecastle after his position altered. Barry Robson has adjusted the position in which his Hearts loanee plays for Raith Rovers, to excellent effect. Finlay Pollock is currently on loan with the Championship club and has made 17 appearances this season. He has three goals in as many games since the offensive midfielder was pushed into an out-and-out striker role, including two in Saturday’s 3-0 victory against Partick Thistle. His first came when he smashed a loose ball in the box past the keeper before converting a Dylan Easton cross around the half-hour mark. Due to Lewis Vaughan’s injuries, Pollock is currently filling in at the front, Jack Hamilton and Callum Smith.
Rovers boss Robson believes the star is now beginning to take heed of the lessons he is being taught behind the scenes. The ex-Aberdeen manager said: “When you’re a striker, I always believe when you start to work with one, they’ve got to run.
“They’ve got to put defenders under pressure, they’ve got to run in the right areas. A lot of times the strikers won’t do that or they don’t know how to do that.
“Once you give them that advice and you show them on the pitch, this is how you press, this is how you run, this is how we want you to run, this is the speed we want you to run at, all of a sudden things start to happen for them.”Gaps begin to open, and opposing centre-backs are tied. He’s getting into good positions. So we’re very thrilled for Finlay. He has a lot of hard work to do, just like the others. They all have a lot to learn, but they are eager to succeed.
“I believe the first half was excellent. I thought about how we transitioned, how we rapidly passed the ball through them, how fast we played, and how we countered the pressure. It was much tougher to deal with. You could see a true identity in us, and how forceful we wanted to be. “I thought we were pretty good in the first half. In the second half, I thought we had good control of the game. Today’s pitch was also little tough. I don’t think we could pass it. It may have been from the ice last night. It felt a little difficult. However, we were in control in the second half. We kept it to a minimum and maintained a clean sheet. So we were pretty much in control in the second half as well.
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