First away win for Raith Rovers in Championship concludes Neill Collins’ short-lived spell in charge

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 20: Raith Rovers Head Coach Neill Collins at full time during a William Hill Championship match between Queen's Park and Raith Rovers at Hampden Park, on December 20, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Byars / SNS Group)

Raith Rovers won on the road for the first time this William Hill Championship campaign to conclude Neill Collins’ short-lived 109 day spell in charge of the Kirkcaldy club on a high.

Goals in each half from Lewis Jamieson and Aidan Connolly sealed the three points at Hampden last Friday night against Queen’s Park – but that result at the national stadium was overshadowed by the shock departure of boss Neil Collins on the Saturday afternoon.

The 41-year-old was in the dugout knowing that a deal to return to the United States to take over USL Championship outfit Sacramento Republic was all-but completed, with a compensation clause having already been activated last weekend.

On his final match in charge, Collins hailed a “fantastic three points” even although he wasn’t best pleased by the team’s lacklustre opening 40 minutes against the Spiders.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 20: Raith's Lewis Jamieson celebrates scoring to make it 1-0 during a William Hill Championship match between Queen's Park and Raith Rovers at Hampden Park, on December 20, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Byars / SNS Group)

"We were second best in the first half,” he told Raith TV. “Queen’s Park performed well but we were way off it in terms of being on and against the ball.

“I thought we had rectified that last week (2-0 win v Pars) but parts of that came out again tonight.

“But we hung in there, big Kev (Dabrowski) made some big saves, and we eventually got our goal.

“Once we did score, we never looked back. We started winning the ball high and even for that final five minutes of the first half we looked good.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 20: Raith's Aidan Connolly celebrates scoring to make it 2-0 during a William Hill Championship match between Queen's Park and Raith Rovers at Hampden Park, on December 20, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Byars / SNS Group)

“The players came in at half time knowing they could play way better and the second half was excellent. It is a fantastic three points.

“But we need to see (the second half performance) more. We took control of the game.

“We are seeing what we do in training come out in games sometimes. We need to be more consistent.”

Raith were on the back foot for most of the first half – but they took advantage of a big break when Sean Welsh handled the ball just inside the box after pressure from Ross Matthews.

Jamieson just about did enough from the penalty spot when his weak effort squirmed under Calum Ferrie.

And they took advantage of another fortuitous moment 20 minutes from time to make it 2-0 when Connolly cut inside past Dane Murray and roofed the net after the ball had nicked out of play.

But Collins wasn’t too interested in the luck that Raith may have had on the night as they made it two wins on the spin to move within four points of fifth-placed Queen’s Park, who did grab a goal back to make it nervy when Ryan Duncan powered home through a number of bodies on 74 minutes.

“Apparently.” he said of the possibility Raith got away with a couple of big calls. “The main thing for me is that we took advantage of both moments.

“We had a stonewall penalty against Queen’s Park with two minutes to go previously that we didn’t get.

“Tonight we got one that was debatable but we took it. The players have earned that break tonight. We’ve been on the wrong end of a few.”

Managerless Raith now host Livingston this Saturday at Stark’s Park.