Sat 27th September / 15:00 / Championship 25/26 / / home
Raith Rovers vs Arbroath
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Raith Rovers claimed a valuable three points on Saturday after comfortably dispatching Arbroath 3-0 at Starks Park
A lively second half followed a fairly flat and uneventful first forty-five minutes. Richard Chin scored his first goal for the club after a Paul Hanlon opener, with Jack Hamilton then rounding off the scoring just minutes from full-time.
Barry Robson made one change to his side after a goalless draw against Airdrie seven days earlier, with Richard Chin earning his first start for the club. Jai Rowe rotated to the bench alongside a retuning Josh Mullin. There was one omission to the squad, with Lewis Vaughan dropping out due to injury.
The Rovers had a few early half-chances in the opening minutes, with a couple of corners and an unfortunate deflection from Jack Hamilton all leading to goal kicks for Arbroath.
The Lichties started to work their way into the game and produced the highlight of the first half after Finlay Marshal’s effort from over thirty yards thumped off the crossbar and back into play.
Both sides struggled to create any sort of goal-scoring chance as the half progressed, so supporters would have been hoping for some goals as the second half got underway. The majority of them wouldn’t have to wait long, it turned out…
Some Rovers’ fans were still returning to their seats in the 47th minute when Dylan Easton swung a corner into the box. Paul Hanlon popped up in the right place at the right time after the ball made its way to the back post, with the defender turning the ball in from four yards out for Raith’s first of the match.
Raith doubled their lead in the 65th minute after some confident football in the midfield gave Easton the chance to play a through ball, which he did so in inch-perfect fashion. Richard Chin got on the end of the pass as the whole South Stand rose to its feet. The three thousand or so Rovers’ fans could have practically willed the ball into the net, but Chin took care of the matter as he chipped the keeper from close range. After earning his first start, the Malaysian had now scored his first goal in a Rovers’ shirt.
Easton almost notched his third assist of the afternoon just minutes later when he cut back to Brown at the edge of the area. The skippers’ curling effort looked destined for the top right corner, but the spin of the ball took it narrowly past the post in the end.
Chin departed to a standing ovation in the 78th minute as Kai Montagu took his place. The match started to wind down as full-time approached, but that didn’t stop the youngster from creating a chance as he played the ball across the face of Arbroath’s goal in the 88th minute. Hamilton was there to score into an empty net, making it three for Rovers with just injury time left to be played.
The subsequent full-time whistle called an end to a successful Saturday for The Rovers, with a commanding clean-sheet win awarding them with the three points needed to stay in second place in the league.
An away match awaits Raith, with a trip to Dingwall on the cards as they face ninth-placed Ross County in a week’s time.
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