Report

Raith Rovers 2 – 0 Queen’s Park

The Rovers overcame a challenging injury situation on Saturday after running out 2-0 winners against Queen’s Park in Kirkcaldy.

A bit of quick thinking in the first half put Raith in the lead, before a converted spot-kick after the break sealed the three points.

Dougie Imrie was dealt yet another major blow to his squad, with John Robertson and Dylan Easton both ruled out following the team’s 0-2 win away to Morton a week earlier. Lewis Vaughan and Paul McMullan also missed out through injury, joining Calum Adamson, Charlie Telfer, and Anton Dowds on the sidelines.

Kai Montagu came in for Robertson, leaving a four-man bench of Luke Armstrong, Callum Fordyce, Ross Millen, and Lewis Stevenson.

Proceedings got off to a cagey start following Queen’s Park’s kick-off, with both teams doing little early on.

Raith eventually settled and started to make some inroads down the right wing. A number of crosses into the box followed, but David Mitchell was left with only a couple of manageable saves to make.

The Rovers continued their efforts down the right, which led to Kai Montagu muscling his way into a throw-in with 30 minutes on the clock. Montagu’s efforts took two Queen’s Park defenders out of the game, and his quick throw-in that followed put Raith through on goal. George Oakley did well to set up Scott Brown, and Broonie made no mistake from 15 yards – lashing his effort into the bottom-right corner to give Raith the lead.

Raith perked up following their opener. Further advances down right followed, but attempts from Jai Rowe and Scott Tiffoney ultimately hit the wrong side of the side-netting as the Rovers searched for a second.

The halftime interval did little in slowing Raith’s endeavour to double their lead, with Brown’s effort from long-range forcing a save from Mitchell in the 46th.

A dominant period followed for the Rovers; with much of their luck coming from the left this time. Mitchell again denied Brown following his effort from the edge of the box in the 60th, which saw the Queen’s Park keeper extend a strong hand to deny a goal-bound shot.

A further series of probes down the left resulted in a pair of back-to-back corners around four minutes later. The second of such saw Kai Montagu heftily bundled over in the box. Penalty Rovers.

Kyle Turner stepped up to take – rifling his spot-kick into the roof of the net to double Raith’s lead in the 65th.

The Rovers looked determined to net a third, but efforts from Oakley and Tiffoney narrowly whistled by each post.

The Spiders came closest to finding the net around eight minutes from full time, with Nikolai Todorov getting onto the end of a cross to the back post. His first-time strike flew just wide of the mark though, leaving Josh Rae with zero saves on the day.

However, his counterpart Mitchell was kept busy in the few minutes that remained, after a centrally placed attempt from Brown was palmed back out towards Oakley. The Rovers’ striker worked an angle for a rebound, but Mitchell was on hand to once again make the save.

Imrie utilised the entire outfield contingent of his bench in the 85th, with Montagu, Turner, and Aaron Lyall making way for Fordyce, Stevenson, and Millen.

The full-time whistle sounded a handful of minutes later – making for another three-point Saturday for The Rovers.

Next up: Raith travel to league leaders Stenhousemuir this Saturday.

Report by Hamish Rankine.

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