Report

Raith’s return to the league after a 2-week gap in fixtures ended in stalemate on Saturday, after drawing 1-1 to Queen’s Park in Kirkcaldy.  

Rovers’ manager Neill Collins made multiple changes since their last league outing against Morton, with Fankaty Dabo, Callum Fordyce, and Lewis Jamieson all starting with the likes of Connoly and Matthews rotated to the bench. Sam Stanton was also named on the bench as he returned from a 70-day absence in the league to due injury.  

Queen’s Park chose to switch ends as they won the coin-toss, meaning Raith got the game underway. Both teams took the first five minutes to settle into the game, but Raith quickly went onto get their first effort on goal of the afternoon shortly after, With Easton’s long-range effort resulting in a corner after testing Queen’s Park Keeper Callum Ferrie.  

Ferrie was called into action again shortly after, with a re-cycled Ratih corner finding the head of Hanlon, who nodded an effort towards the back post. The Queen’s Park shot stopper scrambled across his goal to palm the ball out for another Raith corner. 

The Rovers continued to work their way into the Queen’s Park box and eventually found their reward after Dylan Easton was tripped as he attempted to weave his way between defenders. Jack Hamilton stepped up, and confidently blasted his penalty into the net with Ferrie diving the wrong way. Raith had their hard-earned goal with just five minutes of the first half remaining.  

With the next few minutes of the half proving to be goalless, the teams emerged for the second half with no changes in personnel.  

Raith continued to get shots on target, but the away side quickly came into the game as they started to progress into Raith’s penalty area, winning multiple corners and asking several questions of the Raith defence.  

Queen’s Park’s efforts eventually paid off, albeit in somewhat cruel fashion for Raith. A deflection out wide allowed Rudden to play the ball into Raith’s box. A lay off to the edge of the area allowed Liam McLeish to get a shot on target. The Raith support could only watch as another deflection put the ball behind an already-diving Dabrowski and into the net, levelling the game in the 62nd minute.  

Queen’s Park remained a threat, but Raith did their upmost to get back ahead. Two attacking changes saw Smith and Stanton enter the action, but no goal came with numerous promising-looking Raith chances once again coming to nothing.  

Frustrations boiled over after a shot on the Queen’s Park goal was blocked by the away side’s defence – seemingly striking an arm on its way. Queen’s Park shortly went onto win a foul to prevent a corner, much to Easton’s frustration – which saw the midfielder earn a red card in the 90th minute after receiving 2 consecutive yellows.  

The one-man advantage amounted to nothing for Queen’s Park as the final whistle went just a few minutes later. Even with some promising attacking displays, Raith Rovers walked away with just a point which means they remain 8th in the league table.  

Next up, Raith travel to West Lothian as they take on 2nd placed Livingston in the league for the second time this season.  

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