Fifth home derby win on bounce for Raith Rovers v Dunfermline
Raith Rovers extended their unbeaten streak at home to Dunfermline Athletic to a dozen games with their fourth 2-0 victory in Kirkcaldy on the bounce on Friday.
That was their fifth Fife derby win on the trot at Stark’s Park and it’s now over eight years since they’ve lost to the Pars on home turf, that last defeat in Pratt Street, also by 2-0, having been back in January 2017.
Lewis Stevenson, playing in midfield as part of a 3-5-2 set-up, put manager Barry Robson’s hosts ahead with only two minutes on the clock in front of a crowd of 6,511, but they weren’t able to build on that advantage until 12 minutes from the final whistle, via Lewis Vaughan, a 68th-minute replacement for captain Scott Brown in the middle of the park, from a Stevenson throw-in.
Those two goals past visiting goalkeeper Mason Munn – among five shots on target to Athletic’s three – were accompanied by a 50th-minute effort from Dylan Easton beyond the on-loan Rangers teenager controversially judged to have been offside and a near miss for Vaughan, 29, with his last kick of the ball four minutes into stoppage time at the end of the game.
Rovers’ second win in three William Hill Championship fixtures so far kept up their unbeaten start to the new season, taking their points tally to seven, and lifted them up to the top of the table ahead of four second-tier games today, August 23, including second-placed St Johnstone, only a point behind Robson’s side ahead of kick-off, hosting third-placed Arbroath, two further points adrift.
Next up for Raith is a trip to Partick Thistle next Saturday, August 30, with kick-off in Glasgow’s Maryhill at 3pm, and they head west looking to extend a four-match unbeaten streak versus the Jags.
Robson, 46, rates Rovers as having been well worth their victory over opposite number Neil Lennon’s visitors, taking their ongoing undefeated run in the championship to 13 fixtures, telling Raith TV afterwards: “We knew it was going to be frantic. We knew it was going to be about first and second balls.
“We probably didn’t play the sort of football that we have done but there was still some unbelievably good stuff.
“We still created so many good chances and had a goal disallowed that shouldn’t have been.
“I’m really pleased because I want us to be the kind of team that if you want to fight with us, we’re going to fight with you, but if we can play, we’ll play.
“I want us to be able to have a bit of everything about us as a team and I think you can see that.
“It’s not always going to be scintillatingly good football we’re playing, so we need to be able to mix it up and I thought we played it as a derby.
“You’ve got to remember that’s a really good manager we were going up against in Neil Lennon and they’re a good team, a team that have signed some really good players.
“It was a difficult game and we got it right, especially the first and second contacts. I thought we were really good on transitions.
“Possession-wise it probably wasn’t one of our better performances, but you’ve got to give a huge amount of credit to the players, every single one of them.”