Let's do it for Ally - Raith squad galvanised for top four finish

Club stalwart Ally passed away last month after an inspirational two-year battle against cancer, and a charity game in his honour will be played at Stark’s Park in April #Allysgame.

After scoring his 92nd minute equaliser to earn Rovers a crucial point, Benedictus revealed that the squad have been galvanised by their former colleague and friend.

“The boys have spoken about it, and we’re doing it for Ally,” the defender said.

“A lot of the boys are thinking of Ally, and he would’ve wanted us to get that fourth spot more than anything, so it’s not just for ourselves we’re trying to do it, it’s for Ally as well. We know how much Ally meant to the club and it would be a big achievement if we could get fourth place. Hopefully we can do the business.”

The motivation among the Raith players has been clear to see in recent weeks, and again on Saturday as the team battled until the final whistle for a point.

“It’s a disappoitning result when you consider we came here for the three points,” Benedictus said. “But we’ll maybe look at it as a positive result come the end of the season.

“Queens got beat again, so its another point higher on them, so we need to look at the positives. Alloa played well and put their body on the line and blocked a lot of things.

“On another day we would have got three points but it could be a good point.”

The goal was Benedictus’ fourth of the season, which has been a long time coming, after starting the campaign with three goals inside the first seven games.

“I started well then I’ve gone off the boil so hopefully I’ll get another couple before the end of the season,” he added. “I’m telling the boys it was an overhead kick but I just swung a leg at it and thankfully it went in.”

Raith are currently seven points clear in the race for fourth but with a tough run-in, Benedictus stressed that there is still plenty work to do

“We can’t get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “We’ve got a hard run-in but we’ve not lost to Morton, Queens or St Mirren all season so if we can keep that going then that will give us the best possible chance of keeping fourth spot.”