Livingston V Raith: Match Preview

Livingston V Raith Rovers Saturday 4th May 2013  Kick off: 3.00pm

Admission Prices

Adults – £17

Concessions – £7* (Over 65 and under 16)

Parent & Child – £20

Supporters using the concession turnstiles may be asked for photo ID to prove their eligibility

Match Official

Referee – Des Roache

Assistants –  Alastair Mather and Chris Graham

Match Preview:

Raith Rovers travel to the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium on Saturday to take on Livingston in their final match of the 2012/13 season. The home side go into the match on the back of a 2-0 victory at Airdrie, their second under new manager Richie Burke since he was given the role permanently. A win for the home side would guarantee the club a third placed finish in the table,but to do so they’ll need to get the better of a resolute Raith defence, which kept its 3rd clean sheet in 6 games following last weeks 0-0 draw with Falkirk. A win for Rovers would see them finish in 6th position.

Managers Thoughts:

Grant Murray was left frustrated after last Saturday’s scoreless draw against Falkirk,

“I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t manage to grab the win last Saturday, especially when the longer the match went on, the more the chances were falling for us. Falkirk certainly had their chances early on in the match, but when you look over the whole game, possibly the draw was a fair result. It was frustrating though that we couldn’t convert one of those chances near the end”

One positive from the game was the youthful make up of the Raith team, which featured at some stage 5 players aged 20 or under,

“For a club like ourselves, we need to encourage that and bring these players through, and Saturday was great from that point of view. Their performances showed that they deserved to be there and they’ll certainly get more opportunities.”

Murray was also full of praise for Brian Graham after he was named by the PFA in the First Division Team of the Season,

“I was delighted for Brian that he was named in the the XI. It’s a huge achievement for him, and it’s entirely fitting based on his form this year. He’s had a fantastic season, and he’s thoroughly deserving of such a worthy accolade.”

This weekends game sees Raith come up against Livingston, a team that’s caused Raith a great deal of difficulty over recent seasons. However, Murray feels that fact should act as a catalyst for the players to attempt to end the poor run,

“We’ve not got a good recent record against them but like any other game we’ll prepare for it properly and go there with the intention of giving a good account of ourselves, putting in an impressive performance and hopefully taking the 3 points.”

“The players are aware of the poor record we’ve got against them, in the same way they discuss teams who we do have a good record against. The fact that we’ve not beaten them for a while should really make us more even determined to go down there and come away with a win.”

Form/Stats:

Rovers go into the game with 1 win, 3 draws and 2 defeats from their last 6 games, while their opponents have won 2, drawn 2 and lost 2.

Raith’s last win over Livngston was a 2-0 victory at Stark’s Park back in March 2001.

Both sides biggest victory in this fixture is by four goals to nil, and both have came at Livingston. Raith’s 4-0 win was at Almondvale in September 2000, while Livingston’s was in February of last year.

Over the last ten games between each other, Raith have won 1 to Livingston’s 7. with two matches ending all square.

Overall Head to Head League Record at Livingston:

Livingston wins 3 | Draws 3 |  Raith Rovers wins 1

Match Odds

Livingston 21/20 | Draw 13/5 | Raith Rovers 13/5

Written by: Shaughan McGuigan

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