Report

Raith Rovers earned an important point on the road on Saturday after playing out a goalless draw against league leaders, St. Johnstone.  

The Rovers squad did well to defend against a possession-heavy St. Johnstone side, whilst creating some ultimately unsuccessful chances on the break. A late flurry of attempts on goal threatened a winner, but neither side could legally find the net before the full-time whistle.  

For his first league match in charge of Raith, Dougie Imrie stuck with the same starting 11 that defeated Alloa 1-0 in the Scottish cup a week earlier. An identical bench also made up Imrie’s choice of substitutes, with Lewis Vaughan, Shaun Byrne, Callum Fordyce, and Richard Chin all continuing to miss out through injury.  

St. Johnstone got off to a lively start, with a couple of close-range headers from Cheick Diabate narrowly missing the target in the opening minutes. Stevie Mallan forced Josh Rae into his first save of the afternoon in the 10th minute, after his 25-yard effort back across goal was deflected wide by Raith’s shot stopper.   

The hosts continued to threaten, but Raith managed to limit any chances and started to work their way up the pitch as halftime approached. Jordan Doherty had probably the best chance of the half in the 33rd minute after Joshua Mullin swung a corner into a crowded penalty box. However, Doherty’s header from eight yards ultimately fell straight into the hands of Toby Steward in The Saint’s goal.  

A portion of the home support were on their feet celebrating just seconds from the interval after Josh McPake looked to have turned the ball in at the back post, but his effort into the side netting had Raith counting their blessings. 

After earning a yellow card in the first half, Ross Matthews replaced Paul Nsio during the interval before the match got back underway.  

The Saints thought they had opened the scoring seconds into the second half, with Mallan finishing a cut-back across goal from McPake. The latter had strayed offside though, with the linesman’s flag coming to Raith’s aid.  

St. Johnstone kept up their barrage on Raith’s goal, but some further interventions from Rae alongside some smart blocks from The Rovers’ defence curtailed the hosts’ efforts.  

Imrie continued to look to his substitutes and again used up all five available to him. These changes were complete in the 80th minute when Callum Smith replaced Jack Hamilton, whilst Ewan Wilson swapped places with Josh Mullin.  

Jamie Gullan came close to netting a last-minute winner against his old side after he worked his way through Raith’s back line in the 92nd minute. Much to Raith’s relief, his effort from wide thundered off the post before going out of play for a goal kick.  

Raith almost had the last word after some good football down the left allowed Lewis Stevenson to play a ball into the Saints’ box. Substitute Callum Smith did well to get on the end of the cross, but the awkwardness of his header saw the ball narrowly drift over the bar.  

The match came to its conclusion a few seconds later – much to some audible frustration from the home support.  

Few Rovers’ fans will be complaining with the result of Dougie Imrie’s first league match in charge, with a point away to the current league leaders keeping them within four points of the Championship play-off places. Raith’s next chance to close that gap will take place this Saturday, with a league match against 10th placed Ross County scheduled at Starks Park.  

Before then, a Challenge Cup home tie against Hamilton awaits this Tuesday night.  

Written by Hamish Rankine

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