Fri 22nd August / 19:45 / Championship 25/26 / / home
Raith Rovers vs Dunfermline Athletic
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Raith Rovers kept their unbeaten start to the season alive on Friday night after claiming a solid 2-0 home victory against Dunfermline Athletic in the first Fife Derby of the season.
A lightning-quick start, followed by a second-half goal that had a sense of inevitability about it, sealed the result for the Rovers in a flood-lit match in front of the TV cameras.
Barry Robson stuck with the same starting eleven that had dispatched Ayr on the road by a goal to nil around two weeks earlier, which saw a midfield trio of Brown-Byrne-Matthews start the match. An equally unchanged bench continued to see both Lewis Vaughan and Jack Hamilton sit on the sidelines, alongside the likes of Jai Rowe and Richard Chin.
A recently unprecedented level of anticipation surrounded the Dunfermline team going into this event, and it was easy to see why. Combining the acquisition of manager Neil Lennon, who had famously beaten Barcelona with Celtic over eleven years ago, alongside Jefferson Caceres – a midfielder who had been involved in a transfer to the sum of 1.2 million pounds just six months before joining The Pars, had understandably done so. There was one man who they had failed to get their hands on, however…
Just seconds after the match kicked off, Dylan Easton turned over possession in the attacking third and tore down the left wing towards the by-line before playing a cut-back across the six-yard box. McMullan helped the ball on to Lewis Stevenson, and a skilful nutmeg-finish from six yards out sent a sold-out South Stand into scenes of jubilation. It wasn’t quite as fast as their 30-second opener two weeks earlier, but nobody in a Raith shirt was complaining after taking the lead just 66 seconds into the match.
Raith’s enthusiastic start to the match continued as they dominated possession in the opening minutes. Dunfermline started to fight their way into the match, but were forced into an early substitution after a coming together between Lewis Stevenson and Andy Tod led to the latter being unable to continue. Stevenson received a yellow card for his efforts – a decision which led to audible protests from both sets of supporters.
Easton came close just two minutes from half-time after setting the ball up for a shot from the edge of the box, but his marginally wide effort had Raith fans returning to their seats after the chance went amiss.
The Rovers deservedly went into the interval a goal to the good, and a substitution-less halftime allowed Raith to get the match back underway soon after.
Easton had the ball in the back of the Pars’ net just five minutes into the second half, but a hairline offside call ruled the goal out.
Dunfermline started to fire some crosses into Raith’s box, but some wayward efforts on goal alongside some good Raith defending ensured The Pars didn’t find the net.
Just eight minutes after entering the fray, Vaughan got on to a throw-in just inside The Pars’ box before placing an effort into the bottom left corner of the net. The man in question celebrated his goal against Dunfermline in front of the South Stand with his arms outstretched – an image that’s hardly unfamiliar in years gone by.
The Raith defence was tested often as the match drew to a close, but the full-time whistle signalled a hard-fought but well-deserved Fife Derby victory for The Rovers.
Whilst the Friday-night result placed Raith at the top of the league, subsequent results a day later now put Raith in a promising second-place. An unbeaten start to the season continues, but match number four away to Partick Thistle next Saturday will be the next test in their ongoing 13-match unbeaten streak in the league.
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