Although Duffy acknowledged the Ibrox outfit’s irrepressible form at Cappielow on Sunday, he also admitted to being ‘a little bit frustrated’ as he felt his own players had underperformed.

But he says they’ve always bounced back from setbacks in the past and expects no less than a return to the form that saw them go seven games unbeaten with an improved display at Stark’s Park.

The 56-year-old told the Tele: “Sunday was a defeat.

“It doesn’t matter to me who it was against, it’s still a defeat so we want to bounce back.

“I don’t think I’ve ever used the word ‘reaction’, but I think we have responded well to set-backs in the past.

“We had a setback on Sunday — regardless of the fact it was against Rangers — because we didn’t perform as well as we could have, so I’m looking for a response in terms of performance levels.

“We can play much better than we did on Sunday, and that will be the response I’ll be looking for: to reach a level of performance we can be pleased with.

“We weren’t pleased with the performance against Rangers and obviously the result emphasises that.

“We didn’t win down at Queen of the South the week before or against St Mirren a month ago, but the performances were there.

“You can’t guarantee a win, but if we go up to Raith and we get a performance like either of those I’ll be happy. And if that’s good enough to get something from the game then great.” Ray McKinnon has turned Stark’s Park into a fortress this term, guiding his new club to six wins in the six fixtures played in Kirkcaldy thus far.

The foundation for that run of results has been a miserly defensive record which has seen them concede just one goal on home turf, and that was against Premiership Hamilton in the League Cup.

Duffy is well aware of their home exploits and anticipates a tight match in which neither side will have much margin for error.

He added: “Raith are riding high in the league, in joint-second place with 15 points, so we have to go there and put up another terrific performance to have any chance of getting a result.

“They’re on a really good run of form in terms of going away to St Mirren a couple of weeks ago, beating Dumbarton last week and putting up a good performance against Celtic in the cup.

“Ray McKinnon had recruited well with players like [James] Craigen, [Jon] Daly, and Iain Davidson, who are all not only experienced players but good players. As a team they’ve shown that they are very, very difficult to beat. They’ve been very efficient, professional and very disciplined in their roles.

“They know their jobs well which makes them more than capable of getting a result even when they aren’t playing great.

“If you stay difficult to beat — if you can stay in it for long periods when you’re not playing great — you know there will be chances for you in the moments when you do have control of the game.

“I don’t think we’re going to go there and create a bundle of chances, that’s not going to happen with their defensive record.

“The stats show they don’t give much away, so if the opportunities do come our way then we’ve got to be clinical. But I’d like to think we’ll keep it tight as well, and if our concentration stays at the levels it can and has been on some of our travels, we can go there with a bit of confidence.

“This will be a real test for us, but we’ve competed well in all the games and I expect us to compete well in this one.”