Report

Raith Rovers closed out their pre-season with a narrow 1-0 defeat in a friendly against the runners-up of last year’s Premiership, Heart of Midlothian.

Dougie Imrie made several changes for his last friendly before the league gets underway, which saw Josh Rae, Jai Rowe, Charlie Telfer, Paul McMullan, and Lewis Gibson all start from the off. Armstrong, Easton, Robertson, and Fordyce made up the bench, alongside a trialist, whilst Lewis Vaughan was rested entirely.

The Rovers kicked things off at Starks Park and found themselves with a chance to open the scoring around five minutes following a poor defensive header. Gibson raced on and looked clean through, but some pressure from the recovering Hearts defence ultimately saw the ball clear the bar in the end.

Kai Montagu fashioned a chance a couple of minutes later, but his effort from the edge of the box ended in similar fashion.

Hearts seemed to sharpen up after a lively start from Raith, which saw Rae make a number of saves as the twenty-minute mark came and went.

Both sides would go on to probe their opponent’s backline, but no real chance came along before the interval.

Raith switched out keepers for the second half, with Armstrong replacing Rae, whilst Hearts made a triple change themselves.

The Rovers again started well, earning a few corners which kept Reus in the Jambo’s goal occupied. Millen came close to creating a chance in the 55th minute after heading back across goal, but Reus did well to intercept before any Rovers player could convert.

Hearts again grew into the half, coming close themselves following a recycled corner. Kingsley’s cross found the head of Kamara, who powered the ball towards goal from six yards out, but Armstrong did well to punch over.

Hearts started to turn the heat up, which saw Magnusson hit the bar before narrowly firing an effort just wide of the post shortly after.

The substitutions continued for both sides, which saw Hearts use nine of their ten substitutes, whilst Raith switched Easton, a trialist, and Robertson for Dowds, Gibson, and Montagu in the last half an hour.

Easton had probably the best Rovers chance of the night after McMullan’s deft ball to the back post made for a headed effort. Easton tried to go back across goal, but Reus got down quickly to parry away. Easton again found himself with a sight of goal following a McMullan pass in the 78th minute, but his shot towards the bottom left corner was dragged narrowly wide in the end.

Hearts would eventually capitalise from a loose back pass in the 87th minute, which saw substitute Rogers Mato poke home for what would turn out to be a late winner.

The full-time whistle signalled the end of a confident showing from the Rovers, who go into a final week of pre-season training before the league opener at home to Stenhousemuir this Saturday.

Written by Hamish Rankine.

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