Kilmarnock among Raith Rovers’ pool rivals in next football season’s league cup

The Kirkcaldy club, winners of the cup in 1994, were one of eight second-seeded teams on the basis of their fifth-placed finish in the William Hill Championship last term, along with fellow Fifers Dunfermline Athletic, Partick Thistle, Arbroath, Queen’s Park, Ayr United, Greenock Morton and Airdrieonians.

Manager Dougie Imrie’s side will play their first group H match on or around Saturday, July 11, with four more following, concluding on Saturday, July 25, or thereabouts.

Round-of-16 ties are scheduled for mid-August, quarter-finals for mid-September and semis for Saturday, October 31, or Sunday, November 1.

This year’s final will be held on Sunday, December 13, at Glasgow’s Hampden Park.

Next season’s format is the same as last year’s, with 40 clubs taking part in eight pools in the initial group stage, all but three of them Scottish Professional Football League teams.

This year’s guest clubs are Scottish Lowland Football League champions Linlithgow Rose and Scottish Highland Football League winners and runners-up Brora Rangers and Brechin City.

The eight groups’ winners and three best runners-up will go forward to the last 16 and they’ll be joined there by the William Hill Premiership’s top five sides – Celtic, Heart of Midlothian, Rangers, Motherwell and Hibernian.

Groups are made up of one team from each of eight seeding pots determined by league placings last time round, and Kilmarnock, tenth-placed finishers in the premiership this year, are the top seeds in Raith’s pool.

Rovers last played the East Ayrshire outfit in the same competition three years ago, drawing 2-2 away and winning 5-4 on penalties, with Dylan Easton and Liam Dick scoring for the Fifers in open play and Innes Cameron, on loan at Stark’s Park last season from English National League side Barrow, and Stuart Findlay netting for the hosts.

Prior to that, their last meetings were during the 2021-22 championship season, with Raith winning two of their league fixtures, Killie one and the other a draw, accompanied by a challenge cup victory for Rovers.

The Fifers last went up against third-seeded Peterhead, fifth-placed finishers in William Hill League One last time out, in the league cup in 2022, winning 6-0 at home, with Easton racking up a hat-trick and Dick, Jamie Gullan and Aidan Connolly also on target.

Their most recent meetings before that were during the 2019-20 League One season, with Raith notching up three wins to the Aberdeenshire outfit’s one and also knocking them out of the Scottish Cup.

Peterhead’s third-tier rivals Accies, fourth-seeded on account of their second-from-bottom finish in the table last term, last provided opposition for Raith in the challenge cup, alias the KDM Evolution Trophy, in December, losing 5-2 at Stark’s Park, with Jai Rowe claiming a hat-trick for the hosts and Scott Brown and Darragh O’Connor netting too and Finlay Cameron replying at the double.

That was their fourth meeting of last year, with the other three yielding championship wins for Raith.

Rovers and fifth-seeded Elgin, sixth-placed finishers in William Hill League Two this year, also met on cup duty in 2025, with the former winning 5-1 away last July in Moray the same competition set to reunite them this summer. Easton netted twice for the visitors and Rowe, Lewis Vaughan and Josh Mullin also found the back of the home net, with Jack Murray getting one back for their hosts.

That was their first meeting for six years, with the one before seeing Raith knock City out of the challenge cup at home in November 2019, thanks to goals from Kieron Bowie at the double and David McKay, with Kane Hester and Shane Sutherland scoring in the other direction.

Rovers and Elgin both went out of the league cup at the first time of asking last summer, along with Inverness Caledonian Thistle and East Kilbride in their pool, its winners being St Johnstone.

Top seeds Falkirk, sixth-placed finishers in the premiership last term, share group G with Ayr United, Alloa Athletic, Stranraer and Edinburgh City.

Raith’s upcoming championship rivals Stenhousemuir are in group E alongside Livingston, Partick Thistle, Forfar Athletic and Brechin.

Aberdeen, Queen’s Park, Queen of the South, Kelty Hearts and Brora make up group A.

Dundee United are in group B with Arbroath, Montrose, Edinburgh’s Spartans and Stirling Albion.

St Mirren, Dunfermline Athletic, Cove Rangers, East Kilbride and Dumbarton will play in group C.

Dundee join Airdrieonians, Ross County, Clyde and Annan Athletic in group D.

St Johnstone, Greenock Morton, Inverness, East Fife and Linlithgow are in group F.