Raith grab late equaliser in Dunfermline derby draw

Dom Thomas had given the home side the lead earlier in the second half in a match which took a long time to get going.

Raith made three changes to the team that started against Inverness on Saturday.

Ross Matthews missed out after his red card, as did Kyle Benedictus and Ethon Varian. Coming in were Tom Lang, Ethan Ross and Matej Poplatnik.

There was a minute’s silence before kick off in memory of former Rangers and Scotland manager Walter Smith before Dunfermline kicked off and created a couple of half chances in the opening 10 minutes.

Rovers, playing a 4-2-3-1 formation, came back into it though and Matej Poplatnik teed himself up for a volley on 17 minutes but it was well wide.

On 34 minutes the forward went close to connecting with a Reghan Tumilty cross and five minutes later a great cross field pass from Tom Lang went to Dario Zanatta who made his way into the Pars’ box but his low angled shot was saved by Owain Fon Williams.

It was the first real effort on goal from either side.

As the disappointing first half came to a close Raith almost made the breakthrough courtesy of a 25 yard free kick from Aidan Connolly which Fon Williams got down well to save and push the ball around the post.

It had been a 45 to forget - albeit in difficult conditions with swirling wind and rain - but the second would start with a moment of real quality - unfortunately for Raith it came from the opposition.

On 49 minutes Dom Thomas picked up the ball on the Rovers left and curled the ball beautifully into the top corner of the net - a goal which wasn’t in keeping with what had been served up previously.

Six minutes later Connolly almost equalised with another free kick which hit the side netting and had many Raith supporters among the 4450 crowd believing it had gone in.

On 80 minutes goal scorer Thomas came close to adding a second with a blistering drive which MacDonald tipped around the post, although referee Alan Muir signalled for a goal kick.

Three minutes later Poplatnik turned on the ball in the Dunfermline box but his shot cleared the bar.

It looked like the one goal was maybe going to do it for the home side before a crazy 60 seconds, four minutes from time, which saw Raith grab an equaliser.

Left back Liam Dick had the chance to score during a goalmouth scramble, but with the goal at his mercy he hit his shot against a defender and the chance was cleared.

But the ball was eventually worked out wide to Spencer who hit a low drive from the right into the opposite corner to spark wild scenes among the Raith support, some of whom spilled onto the pitch.

Neither side could add to the score and a draw was probably the correct result, one which saw Raith gian a point on top two Kilmarnock and Inverness.