Report

Raith Rovers got back to winning ways in emphatic fashion on Saturday, with a Jack Hamilton hat-trick helping the Rovers to a 4-1 win over Queen’s Park in Kirkcaldy.  

A pair of goals shortly before the break set Raith up nicely, before Hamilton went on to claim the match ball in the second half.  

Dougie Imrie didn’t make any changes to his starting eleven after the side’s narrow defeat away to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup six days earlier. There was some positive movement on the bench though, with Shaun Byrne and Richard Chin returning from some moderate injury spells.  

Raith got the match underway after Queen’s Park opted to switch ends – meaning The Rovers would abnormally be shooting towards their own fans for the first half.  

Both sides had some settling to do in the opening ten minutes. Raith came close in the 12th minute after Andy Winter’s headed effort looked to have beaten Calum Ferrie in the Queen’s Park goal. The post came to Ferrie’s aid in the end though, deflecting the ball back into play before an eventual clearance.  

The Rovers kicked on and continued to play some dangerous balls into the visitors’ penalty area. Hamilton had a chance to open the scoring around the half-hour mark, but the striker couldn’t turn the ball in from close range in a crowded six-yard box – a chance he would only go on to vindicate later, and then some.  

Queen’s Park applied a bit of pressure as the half progressed, but Raith defended well and were quickly on the front foot again through an attack down the left wing. Doherty’s attempted cut-back took a deflection or two, but the ball fell only as far as Hamilton, who rifled one into the roof of the net from six yards out to put Raith a goal to the good in the 39th minute.  

Queen’s Park threw bodies forward in search of a leveller as halftime approached, but Raith would only go on to capitalise from this after O’Connor managed to clear. Easton battled for possession in the middle of the park before putting Brown through with an inch-perfect pass down the right wing. The Rovers’ skipper went on to place the ball at the back post, where Josh Mullin popped up to fire home a flawless end-to-end counterattack, doubling Raith’s lead just moments from halftime.  

Much like the first 45, the second half took a little while to get going. The visitors continued to put some semi-dangerous balls into Raith’s box, but these came to nothing in the end.  

Andy Winter still looked lively as the second half progressed, and was unlucky not to find the net after getting on the end of Hamilton’s knock-down just a few yards from goal. Ferrie did well to save, but the ball deflected back to Hamilton, who looped a header over the Queen’s Park keeper and into the net for Raith’s third in the 64th minute.  

Lewis Vaughan and Paul McMullan joined the rout shortly after, with Easton and Mullin both making way.  

It wouldn’t take long for Vaughan to get involved, after another slick move down the left in the 70th minute saw the substitute collect the ball in the penalty area. Vaughan twisted and turned his way towards goal, before playing across to Hamilton just six yards out. The striker had some work to do, but a smart pirouette-type move gave him the space needed to turn the ball in for his hat-trick.  

Queen’s Park wouldn’t go entirely quietly though, after Sebastian Drozd popped up in the 76th minute with a thunderous strike into the bottom right to get the visitors on the scoreboard.  

No more goals would come before the full-time whistle, awarding Raith with their first league victory in four matches, and putting them just one point shy of fourth place as it stands.  

Next up, Raith play Queen’s Park for the second time in just three days this Tuesday, with a trip to Glasgow scheduled for the quarterfinal of The Challenge Cup.  

Written by Hamish Rankine

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