Raith Rovers vs Arbroath
SPFL cinch Championship
Stark’s Park, Kirkcaldy
Friday 3rd May 2024
Kick off: 7:45pm
Prices for tickets are as follows:
Adult: £22
Over-65: £14
Under-21: £13
Under-16: £8
Under-12: FREE with paying Adult
Ticket Purchase Information
Arbroath fans will be housed in The Craiglea Timber Stand (North Stand).
Raith Rovers FC encourage all fans to purchase tickets in advance, online via the “Buy Tickets” button above.
The Main Office will be open for ticket purchases on matchday, but will be very busy and all supporters are encouraged to purchase online in advance.
Disabled tickets can be purchased by calling the ticket office on 01592 263514. The ticket office is open Wednesday – Friday between 10am and 4pm.
Car Parking Information
All supporters are asked to park considerately if leaving their cars in local residential areas. There is ample FREE, unrestricted parking space at The Basin Car Park on The Esplanade and at Beveridge Park Car Park, which are both within walking distance of Stark’s Park.
Match Preview
The Championship league season draws to a close this Friday night, with Raith Rovers welcoming Arbroath to Stark’s Park.
This will be Arbroath’s final match in the second tier for potentially some time, with the Gayfield club finishing bottom of the table, no matter what happens in this match, bringing an end to their five year stay in the Championship.
To bring into context how impressive their stint in the second tier has been, the last time Arbroath spent this long in the second tier was the five campaigns between 1975 to 1980, and back then, the senior league system consisted of just three divisions, rather than four.
However, the Red Lichties must be wishing they could play Raith Rovers every week, with only Airdrie denting Raith’s title aspirations than the Angus club this term.
It took one of Rovers dramatic last second wins to grab all three points in December, despite Aidan Connolly giving Raith an early lead at Gayfield.
Jermain Hylton’s penalty brought the scores level after half an hour, only for Lewis Vaughan’s sensational 95th minute winner to seal all three points for Ian Murray’s side.
If that was a low for the home side on that occasion, the next two meetings were far more upbeat for them, starting with a two all draw at Stark’s Park at the end of December last year.
Despite being blighted by an injury crisis that was so severe, they had to use back up goalkeeper, Ali Adams as a striker in the second half, and being 2-0 down thanks to goals from Dylan Easton and Jack Hamilton, Jim McIntyre’s side fought back for a point, thanks to an extraordinary effort from Adams, and a penalty from Leighton McIntosh.
They went one better at Gayfield in March, again, despite trailing by two goals.
Zak Rudden and Josh Mullins had appeared to put Rovers well on their way to three points which would have taken them top of the table, however, goals from Jay Bird, McIntosh and Mark Stowe gave Arbroath an unlikely win.
Going into that match, they were on a run of ten games without a win, and they’ve lost all nine fixtures since, meaning they’ll finish tenth in the table, currently residing 16 points behind ninth placed Inverness.
This is a fixture that Rovers struggle to get all three points from in general, with just three wins from the last 10 meetings, with five ending all square.
Regardless of the result in this one, Rovers will finish with their record points total in the second tier, since three points for a win was incorporated into Scottish football back in 1994.
Friday evening’s match referee will be Scott Lambie
Head-To-Head Record:
Raith Rovers wins: 49
Arbroath wins: 35
Draws: 23