Date confirmed for Raith Rovers’ third-round SPFL Trust Trophy tie at Cove Rangers

Cove Rangers' Mitch Megginson tackling Raith Rovers' Scott Brown during their sides' Scottish Championship match at Balmoral Stadium in Aberdeen in July (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group)

That game at the Balmoral Stadium in Aberdeen will kick off at 3pm.

Ticket details will be announced nearer the time.

Their game against their Scottish Championship rivals marks the start of Rovers’ defence of the SPFL Trust Trophy they won against Queen of the South in April.

They’re looking to keep hold of that prize, otherwise known as the Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup, for the third year on the trot.

Raith, managed by current Falkirk boss John McGlynn at the time, beat then fellow championship outfit Queen of the South 3-1 at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium to claim the trophy outright for the first time since 2014 and second time ever, having been awarded it jointly, in its Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup guise, with Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2020 due to that year’s final, along with the entire competition the year after, being cancelled because of coronavirus restrictions.

Slovenian striker Matej Poplatnik, on loan from Livingston, put Rovers in front 16 minutes into April’s final, but Ally Roy got an equaliser for their Dumfries opposition in first-half stoppage time.

Poplatnik made it 2-1 for Rovers 20 minutes from time and Ethan Ross added a third with 12 minutes to go to ensure victory.

Raith have only beaten Cove once in the four competitive games they’ve played, all of them away, that being by 2-1 in the league cup in July 2016.

Since then, they’ve lost 2-0 and 3-0 in the same competition in July 2018 and July 2019 respectively and 2-0 in the league, under current boss Ian Murray, at the end of July.

Their cup tie against last year’s League 1 champions, managed by Jim McIntyre, will be one of two meetings in as many weeks as they’re due to host them at Stark’s Park for a league fixture on Saturday, October 8. That will be their first-ever competitive fixture at home to Cove as they’ve only ever come up against them on the road previously.

The other 15 round-three ties to be played next month include a trip to Arbroath for East Fife.

The rest of the draw, made at Firhill Stadium in Glasgow on Monday, comprises Buckie Thistle v Linfield, Cliftonville v Queen’s Park, the New Saints v Dundee, Clyde v Caernarfon Town, Peterhead v Elgin City, Falkirk v Partick Thistle, Dunfermline Athletic v Celtic B, Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Brechin City, Morton v Ayr United, Montrose v Kilmarnock B, Alloa Athletic v Airdrieonians, Queen of the South v FC Edinburgh, Annan Athletic v Kelty Hearts and Rangers B v Hamilton Academical.