Play off place for Raith Rovers after win over Alloa

A penalty from Gozie Ugwu and a Dylan Tait strike gave Rovers the win after Kevin Cawley had given the lead to the home side, who finished the match with ten men after keeper Neil Parry was sent off.

Raith boss John McGlynn made just one change to the side that had beaten Queen of the South the previous Tuesday – injured defender Frankie Musonda dropped out with midfielder Dylan Tait restored to the starting XI.

Musonda’s absence saw Dan Armstrong start at left back whilst the first choice for that position, Kieron MacDonald, was among the subs.

The match began with the home side knowing that anything other than a win would see them relegated to League One, and they almost found themselves behind from the off.

Raith captain Kyle Benedictus hit a shot from the edge of the box which went narrowly wide after just 40 seconds.

Rovers then took command of the match with the bulk of possession though were finding it difficult to breach the Wasps’ defence.

A couple of shots from the home side’s Stefan Scougall gave warning that the visitors may not have it all their own way and sure enough, albeit against the run of play, Alloa took the lead.

A cross from Jon Robertson was met superbly at the back post by Cawley who struck a fine volley to give Alloa a relegation lifeline.

Three minutes later though Rovers came close to equalising when a fine strike from distance from Regan Hendry went just inches wide.

The second half began in much the same fashion as the first with Raith coming close to scoring mere seconds after the restart.

Hendry passed to Adam King who fed in Tait but the teenager’s shot was too high when he should have at least hit the target.

Seven minutes later and Rovers were handed a huge lifeline when they were awarded a penalty – and the home side a red card.

Ugwu was put through and tried to round keeper Parry but was brought down in the process.

Referee Aitken gave him his marching orders and Ugwu picked himself up to put the penalty away.

Then, on the hour mark Rovers made the most of the extra man advantage and took the lead.

A great move ended with Armstrong crossing into the box and this Tait made no mistake to hit home for 2-1.

With the home side down to ten and falling behind it would have been no surprise if the collective heads dropped, but Peter Grant’s men were up for a fight and fashioned chances to equalise.

Innes Cameron had a decent shot on goal, Alan Ttouten should have scored on 70 minutes when he latched on to a poor pass from Davidson, then a scramble in the Raith box ended with and effort from Trouten hitting the post on 76 minutes.

With eight minutes to go the home side passed up a final chance to score when Cameron was put through with just MacDonald to beat, but the birthday boy did well to spread himself and save.

The match ended in a 2-1 win to Rovers and the play off place is a superb achievement after coming up from League One.

Unfortunately for Alloa, that’s where they will find themselves next season.