Raith Rovers 3-0 Arbroath

Before kick off the team gathered to unfurl the League One title flag they won after the 2019/20 season was called early.

If they continue to perform how they did at Stark's Park on opening day then scraps to get out of Scotland's third tier are something they won't have to concern themselves with any time soon.

Arbroath have coped brilliantly since their own promotion from League One a couple of seasons back and Raith will do well to match that this campaign.

Dick Campbell's side were always going to be well organised and to take anything from this game Raith would also need to match their work rate.

In truth they struggled to do that for the first 20 minutes as Campbell's men gave their hosts the runaround.

Jamie MacDonald was at his absolute best to keep out Michael McKenna's header at full stretch on 17 minutes before Luke Donnelly should have done better when he got in behind the Rovers backline only to shoot harmlessly wide.

It certainly took the hosts a while to get into their stride but once they did there was no looking back.

The score was 0-0 after half an hour gone, but within 15 minutes the game was pretty much over as a contest.

Dan Armstrong started things off when he picked up a loose ball before curling a brilliant effort beyond Derek Gaston.

Five minutes later it was 2-0, Dylan Tait's ball setting Reghan Tumilty free.

Tumilty had plenty of work to do but from a tight angle found the corner of the net.

Raith set about killing the game off and Manny Duku went close but was unlucky to see his shot come back off the crossbar.

They didn't have to wait much longer for a third, though.

Regan Hendry was tumbled over in the box by Jason Thomson with the Raith midfielder stepping up to take the spot kick himself, sending Gaston the wrong way.

It was game, set and match by 45 minutes and all Raith had to do was close it out and not offer Arbroath a sniff of getting back into things.

They did exactly that after the break with chances few and far between, which suited the home side just fine.

Raith could even afford the luxury of a missed penalty.

Thomas O'Brien was judged to have handled the ball inside the visitors' box after the ball was lashed it him from close range.

There was little he could do about it, making the penalty and the resultant sending off following a second yellow card, all the more harsh.

But Hendry couldn't repeat his first half spot kick heroics, Gaston doing well to beat away his strike.

Raith assistant Paul Smith, who continues to deputise for the recovering John McGlynn, said: "We emphasised before we went out that we were desperate for the three points to make a good start in the league.

"We know how good Arbroath are, they do their jobs really well, so knew it would be a very difficult game.

"Arbroath started the better side but once we got ourselves into the game we were well worthy winners."