NAT WEDDERBURN says he enjoyed working under John Hughes but is determined his former boss won’t enjoy Saturday’s East End derby.

The 25-year-old worked under the Raith Rovers manager at Inverness Caledonian Thistle when he swapped Cowdenbeath for the Highlands in the summer of 2015.

Together Wedderburn and Hughes carved their names into the Jags’ history by being involved in their first-ever foray into European competition but the midfielder was restricted to just 18 appearances during his one season at the Caledonian Stadium.

Both men left Inverness last summer and their paths will cross for the first time since when Hughes, appointed as Stark’s Park boss in February, brings his side west for crunch match for both teams.

Since taking charge Hughes has guided Rovers to two wins in seven games, both at home, but Wedderburn told Press Sport: “He’s a good coach; his training sessions are good and he’ll get them to work hard. We all know how he wants his team to play but, with the position they’re in, he’s experienced to know that it’s not free-flowing football that will get them results.

“I think he expected them probably to be doing well but it such a difficult league. It always seems though that one weekend can change everything but we’re just taking each game as it comes.

“It’s a big game; one or two wins and we should be fine and we can think about catching Queen of the South, but we want to get that distance between us and the rest before looking towards them.”

The midfielder, who joked he was “over-confident” in striking for goal from distance on Saturday having opened his Pars account at Morton, isn’t sure this weekend will be one for the purist but he believes getting over survival line can help them mount a promotion push next season.

He continued: “It was a bit of a battle on Saturday, which you expect when you play the top teams, and in recent weeks we’ve defended well. I think if you ask most of the boys they’d say it was a fair result and we’ve got players who can mix up the way we play, especially on our pitch, which isn’t the greatest at the moment.

“We’ve got a bad record but there’s been too many draws; if we’d turned some of them into wins we’d probably be in the top four. But if this squad stays together then I think that we can challenge next season, especially after the run that we’ve been on.This season has given us a year to ge so I think we can push next year.”