Dunfermline Athletic 1-2 Raith Rovers: Daniel O'Reilly double keeps Rovers three points clear at top of Scottish Championship

The Stark's Park outfit are now 16 matches unbeaten in league and cups and remain top of the Scottish Championship with 44 points from 19 games, three points ahead of second-placed Dundee United who were 3-0 victors at Arbroath on Tuesday.

In front of a bumper Fife derby crowd of 8,447, early pressure for the Pars saw Josh Edwards’ left footer saved by Raith keeper Kevin Dabrowski after just a minute, before Chris Hamilton’s header from six yards went narrowly wide.

But Raith survived this onslaught and went in front when O’Reilly netted his first goal from close range on 11 minutes after home goalkeeper Deniz Mehmet had flapped at a cross.

The visitors were now in the ascendancy and Josh Mullin, Euan Murray and Lewis Vaughan were all thwarted with goal attempts before the hosts equalised against the run of play on 38 minutes when Ben Summers shot home from the edge of the box right footed.

Into the second half and Raith went 2-1 up through O’Reilly on 51 minutes when he headed in following a Mullin corner.

Dunfermline created further chances but couldn’t add to their tally and the sizeable Raith contingent of travelling fans celebrated another win after seven minutes of injury time.

Delighted Raith boss Murray told RaithTV: “The boys were excellent to a man, the whole squad. Even the guys who didn’t get on the pitch because they were giving so much support on the sidelines and are an integral part of what we do.

"Today there was a little bit of rotation again because we felt legs ere going to be really, really important, especially in a derby game.

"They’re never easy, especially the Fife derby, it’s pretty tough going.

"It’s the third time we’ve come here this season and the third time we’ve left with a victory but it wasn’t an easy game.

"We need to keep our eyes moving forward to the next game because this is a really hard league.”

Incredibly, Tuesday’s game already marked the fifth time Raith and Dunfermline had gone head to head with each other this season.

Previous league encounters had seen Murray’s Kirkcaldy outfit see off James McPake’s side 1-0 away from home on August 26, before winning by the same scoreline at Stark’s Park on October 28, both thanks to Sam Stanton goals.

With Raith and Dunfermline having also played each other in two cup competitions during the 2023-24 campaign – the Pars won 4-2 in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 league cup group stage draw in Kirkcaldy on July 15 before Rovers got revenge via a 3-0 Scottish Cup third round success at East End Park on November 24 – it is fair to say that the element of surprise was lacking for this latest encounter.

Raith continue their league season this Saturday with a trip to Murray’s former club Airdrieonians, with kick-off at 3pm.