'He couldn't see': Raith Rovers boss Dougie Imrie's eye injury update on Callum Fordyce

Raith Rovers boss Dougie Imrie has provided an encouraging update on the fitness of injured centre-back Callum Fordyce, who burst a blood vessel in his eye and was replaced by new signing Jack Baird just 14 minutes into last Friday night’s 1-0 William Hill Championship defeat at arch rivals Dunfermline Athletic.

Imrie told the Fife Free Press after training at Stark’s Park on Tuesday: “He's okay, he's trained the last two days, he's just got a poke in the eye. In the incident he got a slight cut to his eye and burst a blood vessel, that's why the blood was pouring out.

Fordyce was crocked at East End Park (Pic Mark Scates/SNS)

placeholder image — Fordyce was crocked at East End Park (Pic Mark Scates/SNS)

"We had to be careful with him, he couldn't see, so getting Jack Baird in softened that blow or I would’ve had to reshuffle the full pack. Getting Jack is brilliant, it gives us three top centre-halves.”

Although 34-year-old centre-back Fordyce was declared fit by Imrie for Raith’s next league game away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle this Saturday in a 3pm kick-off, he said Lewis Vaughan would remain out for a couple of weeks.

Callum Fordyce is led off pitch at Dunfermline with an eye injury (Pic Ross Parker/SNS)

Rovers go into the match in the Highlands with a fine recent record against Inverness, having beaten Scott Kellacher’s side 5-1 in a home Premier Sports Cup group encounter under previous boss Barry Robson in July 2025 before also defeating the then League One side 4-1 in April’s KDM Evolution Trophy final at Firhill.

Imrie, 43, who previously served the Caley Jags as a player between 2008 and 2010, added: “Obviously we want to get back to winning ways as quick as we can, but it'll certainly not be an easy game.

"It's a difficult place to go, I think they're on a 20-game unbeaten run at home. We understand the difficulty of the game.

"Scott and Billy (McKay, Inverness assistant manager) have done a great job since they took over. They've got them playing some good stuff, so we'll need to be aware of that.

"We were on a good run there, eight games unbeaten, and we want to go on another run like that.

"There's no easy games in the Championship, you need to look at the results over the weekend. Livingston losing at Abroath, Queen's Park drawing at Patrick Thistle, a really tough place to go, and Morton going down to Ayr and picking up a great point.

"You have to run, you have to fight, you have to scratch to get anything from these games in the Championship."