Report

Raith Rovers’ outing against Queen’s Park on Saturday was one for the home fans to forget after suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat against their Glasgow-based opponents.  

Barry Robson made no changes to his team for the fourth week in a row after picking up six points from a possible nine in the weeks prior. Lewis Gibson returned to the bench, and he joined Lewis Vaughan who came back from a five-month absence after picking up an injury in Raith’s 3-3 draw against Hamilton in September.  

Queen’s Park manager, Callum Davidson, made two changes to his side after a goalless draw with Dunfermline a week earlier. Ex-Rover Louis Longridge replaced Zach Mauchin and Sebastian Drozd got the call up over Kyle Hurst.  

Queen’s Park kicked the match off against Raith, who were unusually wearing their away red kit at home due to the combination of their opponents’ kit colours.  

After a slow start, the flashpoint of the first half came in the 17th minute after Finlay Pollock raced through on goal. Callum Ferie rushed out of the Queen’s Park goal to intervene, and the pair clashed outside of the box resulting in a foul in Raith’s favour. The referee deemed a yellow to be suitable – much to the disagreement of the home end, and the eventual free kick flew over the bar.  

Pollock had a chance to score the first of the afternoon around ten minutes later after again being put through on goal. The twenty-year-old miss-hit his effort though, and his attempted lob bounced straight into the hands of Ferrie.  

Queen’s Park went on to open the scoring shortly after in the 28th minute, with a short goal kick giving them the chance to press the Raith defence in their own box. The visitors caught Hanlon out on the ball, which left Zak Rudden to slot home without much pressure.  

Raith very nearly levelled the game before half time, but Ferrie miraculously made his way across goal to deny an effort from Mullin at the back post.  

Half time came and went, and the teams came out un-changed for the second half.  

Raith again came about as close as they could to scoring an equaliser just seconds into the half, but Gullan’s postage stamp thirty-yard freekick was incredibly pushed onto the bar by Ferrie. Nothing was getting passed The Spiders’ keeper on this occasion.  

Queen’s Park made the most of Ferrie’s heroics between the sticks, and went up the other end and bagged their second in the 49th minute after Devine’s shot from inside the box found the net.  

Only two minutes after their second, Queen’s Park again collected the ball in midfield as Adam Montgomery broke towards Raith’s goal. The left-back carried the ball around thirty yards, before chopping in and firing a thundering shot into the Raith goal via the underside of the crossbar.  

Robson made some changes in the 65th minute, which saw Lewis Vaughan make his long-awaited return from injury.  

Queen’s Park rounded off their scoring frenzy after making the most of a free-kick out wide in the 76th minute. A high ball into the Rovers’ box found the head of Nikola Ujdur, and the centre half’s header hit the net for The Spiders’ fourth and final of the match.  

The full-time whistle brought an end to a less-than ideal afternoon for The Rovers, and they will now be looking ahead to their trip to second-placed Livingston on Wednesday.  

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