Raith leave it late in Betfred Cup draw with Inverness

The home side Raith were the first to threaten through Ethan Ross who hit a great shot on the turn which went narrowly over Mark Ridgers’ goal after only six minutes.

Just a minute later and Rovers went close again when Duku outmuscled the Inverness defence but his low shot was saved, but he only had another couple of minutes to wait to get his reward.

Regan Tumilty played a ball over the top of the Inverness defence. Duku’s marker Wallace Duffy slipped allowing the striker to advance on Ridger’s goal and slip the ball through the diving keeper’s legs to open the scoring.

On 15 minutes Duku almost doubled Rovers’ lead when he was inches from getting a boot to a cross into the six yard box.

Rovers were on top at this point but were hit with a sucker punch when Shane Sutherland found himself unmarked in the Rovers six yard box to easily nod home an equaliser.

The home side responded and Duku came close to scoring twice in the space of a minute but the score remained tied.

However on 41 minutes the home side had the chance to take the lead. Musonda was upended in the Caley box and referee Steven Reid pointed to the spot.

Armstrong stepped up to get the goal his excellent first half display deserved – but put the ball wide of Ridger’s right hand post.

The second half began with Inverness looking more assured and a thundering drive from Keating just cleared the Rovers bar.

Inverness were on top so it was a bonus when Rovers took the lead against the run of play, albeit with a touch of good fortune.

A superb run and cross by Ethan Ross was turned into his own net by the unfortunate Devine.

Rovers’ lead was not to last though and in the space of a crazy two minutes found themselves behind.

Firstly James Keating scored from the penalty spot after referee Steven Reid spotted an off-the-ball infringement on 65 minutes.

Then on 67 minutes a Keatings free kick hit the frame of the Rovers goal and Roddy MacGregor bundled home the equaliser, though there was a suspicion of offside.

With the game heading towards a win for Caley ,Rovers stepped up the pressure and Duku came close to scoring with six minutes to go, coming within a whisker of connecting with an Armstrong cross.

It was the beginning of a breathtaking finale to an excellent match.

One minute later the ball landed at the feet of Benedictus who should have scored from six yards out but hit the ball straight at Ridgers who blocked.

A Ross effort on 87 minutes went over the Caley bar before Rovers finally grabbed an equaliser with just a minute to go.

A cross was headed towards goal by Mendy and Duku was on hand to knock the ball home.

But that wasn’t the end of the drama as the visitors pushed for an injury time winner.

A Keatings effort was held by Thomson, then the same player had another shot blocked by the arm of a defender. It looked a definite penalty but the Inverness claims were waved away by referee Reid.

Rovers had got away with one.

Even then there was one more moment of drama; a Kai Kennedy shot was saved by Thomson, it rebounded to Caley sub Nikolay Todorov whose header looked netbound but somehow the Raith keeper managed to twist himself to get a hand to the ball and push it to safety.

It was a quite breathtaking save to end a thoroughly entertaining 90 minutes.

The game went to penalties which Rovers won 3-2 to claim the bonus point which takes them into second place in Group A behind leaders Hearts.