Defeat leaves Raith Rovers trailing table-toppers Dundee United by four points

That result, United’s first win against the Kirkcaldy club for almost seven years, takes the table-toppers four points clear of their title rivals in pole position with only a handful of games left to play.

Murray’s men have a game in hand but extending the gap between the two sides fourfold means the title is now United’s to lose as they’re on 62 points from 31 fixtures, with Raith on 58 from 30 ahead of a six-game run-in beginning with a visit from seventh-placed Ayr United this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm.

The Raith boss conceded that the better side on the day had won but isn’t ruling out a first-placed finish yet, saying: “Our performance wasn’t great and I can’t stand here and claim we deserved to win.

“United created the better chances and they win you games of football.

“I’d rather be in Dundee United’s position than our own as points in the bag are more valuable than a game in hand, but football changes all the time – United have two difficult away games coming up and if they don’t win and we do, then we are right back in it.”

A seventh-minute Tony Watt goal, from a Louis Moult assist, put United ahead in front of a crowd of 10,336 and a 75th-minute penalty by Moult took the game out of Raith’s reach, but Murray wasn’t happy about referee Nick Walsh awarding the latter and earned a yellow card for his remonstrations, one of 13 shown over the 90 minutes, six for each side’s players, the Fifers’ other offenders being Dylan Easton, Zak Rudden, Josh Mullin, Keith Watson and Kyle Turner, and he was disgruntled about that tally of cautions too, saying: “There weren’t really any bad tackles in the game.

The hosts’ spot-kick was given for a foul on Moult, 31, in the penalty area and the striker sent visiting goalkeeper Kevin Dabrowski the wrong way to secure all three points.

“I just felt that the minute you start chucking that card about, which did happen, then you’re booking everybody, and to have 12 players booked in that game makes me glad I don’t play anymore because there’s no way I could handle that,” said Murray.

“It’s becoming a non-contact sport and it’s just not good enough. The powers that be and the people that are making these rules are just sucking the life out of us slowly but surely, changing the way we have to coach players, changing the way players have to learn football. It’s really, really frustrating.”

Hitting out at Moult’s penalty award, he said: “I was very surprised it was given.

“I’ve got the benefit on the bench of seeing it back pretty quickly, and I understand the pressures of being a referee and I understand you can only give what you think you saw, but you have to be 100% sure in those situations.

“In a game of this magnitude and at that stage of the game as well, to give a penalty for that is just poor. It really is.

“I get mistakes – we all make them – but it’s a bad decision.”

Looking ahead, Murray added: “There’s still a long way to go in this league. There are a load of twists to come.”